Night Hunt
by jellyjay
Summary: Spending a stormy night in an in inn within a suspicious, almost insignificant village is never a good thing if you don't like surprises and being woken up in the middle of the night. What do you do? Follow your gut instinct. Zutara. COMPLETE!
1. The Rebels Lair Inn

**Hi Guys!**

**I know what you're thinking: why have you created a new story without finishing 'Procerus Fermata'? Yeah, well, I hated the plot for that story, I've got some rethinking and rewriting to do, but until then, hope this will satisfy you. I wrote this randomly because the weather here's crap and my fingers were freezing off, so I decided to warm them up by typing something. This is what came out of it.**

**One more thing: This is after Zuko leaves Iroh (I hated him temporarily after I found that out) but Toph is not here. Really, I'd love to have both her and Iroh in this story, but I can't figure out what Iroh will do while the others are out, and I don't know how Toph acts and bends, I haven't seen her in action yet.**

**Enjoy!**

**Standard disclaimers apply. Can't be stuffed to play with one today.**

**

* * *

The Rebels Lair Inn**

'_Welcome to Itara'_

The wooden sign was drenched with rain as Katara, Aang and Sokka rushed passed the gate and into the old, dreary village. None of them stopped to take in the scenery as they rushed to the nearest inn looking for any means of shelter. None took into account how quiet it was (though the rain may have played a part in that), but they didn't seem to care at that particular moment. All they wanted to do was run into the closest inn and stay warm for the night.

Lightning flashed and the sign on top of old-fashioned building was lit up long enough for Aang to look up and read it.

'_The Rebels Lair'_ was what he could make out of the barely readable sign and Aang realised how quiet it was (apart from the rain and thunder) and what he should have been thinking struck his mind temporarily.

_We shouldn't be here_.

He stared up at the sign for several moments before he was shaken out of his thoughts as Katara's voice called out to him.

"Aang, get inside! You're wet enough as it is!"

Aang shook his head and banished the thought as he looked back at the water tribe siblings and rushed into the open inn.

It was dark and empty inside, except for the barman standing behind the counter polishing an extremely dirty glass with an even dirtier cloth. Tall and balding, he smiled toothily at the three teenagers who had just entered his inn.

"'Alo," he said, his voice high and raspy. "Wha' brings you three youngsters 'ere to the sleepy town o' Itara?"

"Um…hi," said Katara timidly approaching the old man.

"'Alo," the man said again, grinning toothily (the three teenagers tried not to grimace—the man's teeth were _filthy_) once more.

"Could we spend the night here?" asked Katara careful not to touch the counter. It looked disgusting from the angle at which she was looking at it. "We don't really have anywhere to go…"

The man grinned again. "O' course you can!" he said, slamming his glass on the table.

Katara recoiled at the man's sudden action.

"Tha's wha' my inn is for, you know!" he laughed. Katara backed away into her brother who was eyeing the man suspiciously. Aang, however, bounded forwards.

"Great!" he said grinning back at the man. "How much for the night?"

"Eh?" said the barman. "Fer you three kids? Eh…free!"

"Awesome!" cheered Aang, whilst Katara and Sokka exchanged perplexed looks.

The man threw his dirty cloth onto the counter and beckoned the trio to follow him. "Name's Lan, by the way," he said wearing his toothy grin once again and leading them to an old staircase.

"Hi Lan," said Aang amicably, "I'm Aang, and that's Katara," he said gesturing to the waterbender, "and that's Sokka," pointing to the water tribe boy.

"Glad t' mee' you threes," said Lan looking over his shoulder at the three teenagers. They followed him into a narrow hallway, and to light their way, Lan took a lantern from the wall and held it in front of him so he could see.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the dark hallway as they passed by a large window. Lan seemed to be leading them right to the end of the hall. He stopped by one door and unlocked it with a key on a rusty key ring.

Opening the door wide, he grinned at Katara. "This room's fer the young lady,"

"Erm…thanks, Lan…" said Katara timidly.

"My pleasure, Miss," said Lan. "If you need anythin', Don't be afraid t' ask. Yer friends will be in the room across from yers,"

"Great…" said Katara slowly, but smiling at the old man. "Thanks again Lan…"

Lan bowed graciously. "Enjoy yer stay, Miss," and with that Lan shut the door.

Aang stared at Katara's door for a moment or two before turning around and following Lan into the other room. "This 'ere's yer room, boys,"

"Great, thanks Lan," said Aang grinning at the old man.

"Wait," said Sokka just as Lan turned to leave. "Why does my sister get her own room? And I prefer it if I can see her…you know, make sure she'll be okay,"

Lan frowned for a moment or two, but then broke into his grin again. "Simple," said Lan. "Yer sister's a woman, she shouldn't be sharing a room wit' two men,"

Sokka gaped at the innkeeper. "She's my sister!"

Lan shook his head. "Don't change the fact tha' she's a woman, besides, she's in the room across from yers, she'll be fine,"

Sokka glared at the man.

"Easy there, fella," said Lan catching the dangerous look Sokka was throwing him. "Don't worry so much, I'm sure she can take care of herself if som'in does happen, she seems like a strong young woman, she'll be fine, I tell ya,"

"Right…"

"Thanks again, Lan," interrupted Aang. Sokka sounded irritable.

"No problem, young 'uns," said Lan. "Lemme know if you need anthin',"

Aang nodded.

"Enjoy yer stay, young Avatar,"

* * *

Rain poured and poured some more as Zuko stumbled into the dark and ancient tavern.

"'Alo there,"

Zuko looked up to see an old barman sweeping the floors of the old inn.

"Welcome t' the 'Rebels Lair'," he said. "D'you need somewhere t' stay?"

Zuko stared at the balding old man who had stopped sweeping the floor to address him. "What is this place, exactly?" he asked uneasily.

The barman grinned, his yellowing teeth crooked and uneven. "Why, it's an inn, o' course! So, d'you need somewhere t' stay for the nigh',"

"No," answered Zuko. "I'm looking for someone and I don't have time to—"

"Ah, come now, lad!" interrupted the barman. "It's pourin' wit' rain ou'side! Surely you can stay the nigh'! Who is it tha' you're lookin' for anyhow? Maybe they've stopped by me old town,"

Zuko eyed the old man wearily. "I need to find the—" he paused. No, revealing that he was searching for the Avatar would be admitting that he was of the Fire Nation. His change of clothing had been enough to disguise his nationality for now. Sooner or later everyone would find out, and in a town where he had seen the sign that said 'No Fire Nation Soldiers are welcome here', people finding out would be a bad thing. "I need to find my sister," he said after a moment. "I need to find her and her friends…they…they left my village about a month ago and I've been looking for them since…"

The barman smiled at him. "Ah, I see," he said. "An overprotective big brother's wha' you are, tell me, wha' she look like? Maybe she passed by this town,"

Zuko thought frantically. What did that wench look like? "Long brown hair," he said struggling to remember the water tribe girl's appearance, "usually in a plait. Blue eyes, she's friends with a little bald monk with an arrow on his head and another boy about year older than her and acts like an idiot…have they been around here?"

The old man thought for a moment or two. "Li'l bald monk wit' an arrow on 'is 'ead, you say?"

"Yes," said Zuko hopefully.

"Hmm…nah, 'aven't seen 'em, sorry, mate,"

Zuko swore under his breath when the barman answered. "Right," he said, turning to leave, but the barman called out to him.

"Aw, you poor lad," (Zuko felt a minor surge of fury at the words 'poor lad' but he ignored it), "Stay the nigh', you could use some rest, you look tired, you can continue yer search in the morn'in',"

"Thanks, but I—"

"Come now, you won't be able t' find yer sister if you die from bein' out in the rain fer so long, stay the nigh' boy, free o' charge,"

"But I have to—" Zuko didn't get to object anymore as the barman swept behind him and pushed him towards an old wooden staircase and into a dark and narrow hallway.

"Righ' this way lad," he said steering Zuko to the door nearest the large hall window. Opening the door with a rusted old key, he pushed Zuko inside and onto the bed.

"'Ere you go, mate," he said. "Lemme know if you need and or wan' anythin', I'll be downstairs a' the counter,"

"Right…" said Zuko uneasily. "Thanks…"

"Have a goodnigh' lad, hope you'll be able t' find yer sister soon enough,"

"Thanks again…" said Zuko slowly as the barman closed the door.

* * *

"Katara?" hissed Sokka, pushing his sister's door open. "Still awake?"

Katara stood up and opened the door for Sokka and Aang to come in. "Yeah, I'm still up," She beckoned them in and closed the door behind them. "Weird place, huh?"

"Tell me about it," said Aang sitting down on the bed. "Did I tell the guy who I was?"

"Yeah," said Katara.

"I told him I was the Avatar?"

Katara blinked. "No…" she said slowly. "You said you were you but you didn't say you were the Avatar…"

"What?"

Katara shook her head with an air of irritation. "You said you were Aang but you didn't say you were the Avatar, better?"

"Thank you," said Aang. "That first sentence confused me,"

Katara rolled her eyes.

"Well there have been wanted posters of you everywhere Aang," said Sokka leaning against the door. "It's not _that _big of a surprise, I mean come on, you _are _the last airbender, how many other people would have airbender tattoos these days? And there are wanted posters of you all over the place, it's not really _that _surprising that he recognised you,"

Aang sighed. "Well, yeah, I guess you're right, but it still feels weird around here,"

"Weird place, yeah," said Katara sitting on the window sill and leaning against the cold glass, "but nothing out of the ordinary. I mean this place is just like every other inn, it's the innkeeper that's weird,"

Aang shook his head. "No, it's not just Lan, it's the whole place. It's cold and dark and not that welcoming,"

Sokka scoffed. "Maybe that's because it's the middle of the night and there's a storm trying to tear the place apart," he said trying to suppress a snigger. "And if you think the place is weird, why don't we just leave and go back to the cave where you told Appa to stay?"

"Because the storm's getting worse," said Aang.

Sokka scoffed again. "No it isn't,"

There was another flash of lightning and a roll of thunder, louder than the ones before. Katara jumped and leapt off the window sill.

Aang turned to Sokka. "See?"

"So? Katara's a waterbender, she could keep us dry,"

"I am _not _going to act as a rain jacket, Sokka," snapped Katara.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Yeah, all right, _fine_, so the storm's getting worse, seriously though, if you thought the place was weird, why'd you pick _this _inn in the first place?"

"Because Sokka," interrupted Katara, "it's the only one open and I think it's the only one in the village,"

"How would you know that?"

Katara shrugged. "Just a hunch, this is, after all, a small, almost insignificant village, how many other inns would there be in such a small place?"

"You have a point," said Sokka after a moment. He turned back to Aang. "I don't get it Aang, what Katara said earlier is true, this inn is like every other inn, why is it so weird?"

"Like I said Sokka," said Aang, "it's not just Lan, and it's not just the inn, it's the _whole place_, it's just creepy…"

"Right…" said Sokka sceptically. "Look, we're all pretty tired and we have to get up early as usual, we should get some sleep, okay?"

The other two nodded and Katara stood again to open the door for the boys. They bid each other goodnight and the boys walked the four paces across the hall to their own room. Katara shut the door after them, slipped off her shoes and crawled into bed.

The sheets were chilly as she snuggled into them trying to find warmth and trying to ignore the storm outside.

It wasn't long afterwards that exhaustion overtook her and she fell into a light, yet dreamless sleep.

**

* * *

Is this story weird or what? I reckon it is, my own OC creeps me out…or maybe that's just me.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	2. Confusing Advice

**Hi Guys!**

**Thank you for all your kind reviews, and because I'm sick, the weather's crap, and there's nothing to do, you might be getting a lot of frequent updates. **

**Enjoy!**

**Standard disclaimers apply.**

**

* * *

Confusing Advice**

Rain pounded heavily upon the old tavern, almost as if it was trying force its way through the windows of each room. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled, but other than the noise of the storm, Itara was silent.

Thunder boomed again, and the rain pounded even harder on the windows because of the strong winds. The inn groaned under the force of the storm, and as yet another fork of lightning flashed, yet another boom of thunder followed.

Katara stirred lightly in her sleep and rolled over trying to stay warm and drown the noise of the storm at the same time. A particularly loud crack of thunder caused her to wake with a start.

Breathing heavily as if she had just had a nightmare, she slipped out of bed and walked slowly over to the fogged up window. She opened it a little and crouched down so that she could see through it properly, but even as she did this, she could barely see any clearer than when it was closed and fogged.

She sighed and closed the window again.

The girl shivered slightly and wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm. The air was so cold that her breaths furled out in front of her like white smoke as she made her way back to the bed. Her water skin lay on the bedside drawer along with her neatly folded parka and hair tie (her hair was out—for once she was actually sleeping on a bed and sleeping with her hair done up might've decreased the comfort level). She reached over to her parka and slipped it on wanting to stay warm in such horrible weather.

She sat on the bed for a few moments and finally, she reached to bedside drawer again for her water skin, deciding that she was unusually thirsty.

Katara groaned irritably when she realised that her water skin was empty. That would mean she had to go downstairs for a glass of water. And she didn't want to.

She _really _didn't want to, for several reasons.

One, it was cold. Two, Aang was right, this place was creepy. Three, the innkeeper, Lan, was _really _creepy.

Sighing, she slipped on her shoes reluctantly and ambled to the door, not bothering to do up her hair.

Like everything else in the room, the doorknob was cold against her fingers. She opened it a little and peered through the gap checking to see if anyone else was roaming the hallway at such a late hour.

But it was empty. Somehow it seemed _too_ empty.

Katara opened the door a little more so that the gap was wide enough for her to get through. Quietly, she stepped out of the room and into the hall. The cold wooden floor against her bare feet made her shiver slightly. The wood felt like ice, and it almost hurt to step on it.

She grimaced inwardly as she sauntered to the stairs, just as another fork of lightning lit up the hall. The following crack of thunder made her jump and scamper down the first few steps.

"'Evenin' young 'un," said the innkeeper's voice as she descended down the final steps. Lan greeted her with smile which she returned half-heartedly. The old innkeeper was really _very_ odd. "Whatcha doin' up so late?"

Katara shrugged. "The thunder woke me up," she answered, "and the temperature's freezing,"

"Aye, i' is," said Lan, "Sorry the shee's aren't very thick, but this town can' afford much,"

Katara shook her head. "Don't worry about it Lan, it's fine,"

Lan grinned at her and reached for the glass he'd been polishing when they came in. "Wouldja like som'in t' drink, young 'un?"

"Umm…" said Katara eyeing the glass uneasily.

Lan caught her gaze and smiled even wider. "I's okay, you know, the glass looks dir'y bu' really, i' isn',"

Katara looked from Lan to the glass and back again. She felt like turning down the offer but felt that if she did, she would accidentally rude about it, so reluctantly, she stepped forward and nodded.

Lan's face broke into an even wider grin and beckoned her forward a little more. "Have a sea' li'l lady,"

Katara stepped forward a little more and sat tentatively down on the stool in front of the counter, careful not to touch anything. Lan didn't seem to notice how reluctant she was, or if he did, he didn't seem to care. He poured some water into the seemingly dirty glass and handed it to Katara, who was reluctant to even look at it.

"So," said Lan suddenly, causing Katara to jump and look up at him. "Where're you 'n' yer friends 'eaded to?"

"Oh," said Katara, still not touching the glass, "we're headed to…" she paused. Where were they going again? "Bah Sing Sei, I think," she finished.

"Ah, I see," said Lan. There was silence for a few moments, when Katara broke it timidly.

"Say, Lan," she said, "Aang told me that you'd called him the Avatar…how do you—"

Lan grinned at her again, his filthy yellowing teeth showing again. "Ah, so I was righ'," he said. "Yep, well, there aren' many others wit' airbender tattoos these days, i' wasn' really tha' 'ard,"

Katara nodded slowly at the old man's answer, but Lan seemed to have other things to say.

"So, how'd ya end up travellin' wit' the Avatar?"

"My brother and I found him in an iceberg," she said. "And we decided that we were going to travel with him and help him master the elements…he's just about mastered water already, we need to find him an earthbending teacher now,"

"Were you his waterbending teacher?" asked Lan suddenly. "You seem like a fairly able waterbender,"

"Well, no, but, I am supposed to keep training him until—" she paused. "Wait…" she said slowly. "How do you I'm a waterbender?"

Lan smiled and shrugged. "I can tell whether people are benders or non-benders, there's som'in about them tha' says whether they can bend or no',"

"Right," said Katara slowly and sceptically.

"Say, young 'un, how often do you were yer hair down?"

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Not very often," she answered slowly.

Lan grinned. "You should le' i' down a li'l more often, a young girl like yerself should le' 'er style vary from time t' time, and you look good wit' yer hair loose,"

"Uhh…thanks, I guess…" said Katara, not really knowing what else to say.

There was another silence, broken only by the rain and thunder outside. Finally, Lan spoke up again.

"I s'pose you'll be leavin' early t'morrow?"

"Yeah,"

"Then I suggest you get a li'l more res'," he said smiling. "T' bed wit' you,"

Katara couldn't help but laugh, and she got up, completely forgetting about her glass of water and headed to the staircase. "'Night," she said.

"'Ave a good res', young 'un," said Lan. "Oh, and a small piece of advice fer a waterbender like yerself," he added.

Katara stopped and turned around.

"If you ge' yerself into a spo' of trouble, remember tha' i' ne'er rains, bu' i' pours," he said. "Advice tha' only a waterbender will understand and use,"

Katara stared at the old man. Whether or not that a waterbender would understand and use it, the advice that Lan gave her made no sense at all to her. "Right…I'll keep that in mind," she said slowly. "Thanks again, Lan,"

And with that Katara climbed the creaky wooden staircase into the hall, still trying to figure out what Lan's advice meant.

* * *

Zuko awoke at the sound of a quiet creak coming from outside in the hall. He couldn't say he was too surprised that he was woken up by the sound of a creak, but what he did find slightly odd was that he could sleep through the booms of thunder.

He figured it was because he was used to similar sounds having lived on a ship for two years.

Quietly, he stood up and opened the door a little bit so he could see who it was roaming the hallway at this time.

He blinked as he saw a vaguely familiar silhouette ascending up the stairs and heading to the door right at the other end of the hall. He wondered for a moment why the silhouette seemed so familiar, but banished the thought as the thought of sleep found its way back into his mind.

Zuko rubbed his unscarred eye and walked slowly back to the bed. He collapsed onto it and lay there for several moments, when a draft of cold air entered his room from the door.

He looked up sleepily and found that it was the innkeeper was standing by the door of his room. "Whatcha doin' up so late, lad?" asked the innkeeper.

"Nothing," muttered Zuko. "I just heard some one coming up the stairs, I'm a light sleeper like that,"

"Ah, righ' then, young sir, ge' some sleep," said the innkeeper firmly. "Yer lookin' for yer sister, I suggest you res' up,"

Zuko thought for a moment, and then it clicked to why the innkeeper had said he was looking for his sister. He had temporarily forgotten about the lie that he told the old man. "Oh, yeah, right," mumbled Zuko after a second.

"D'you wan' another blanke' sir?" he asked. "The temperature's quite cold t'night,"

"No," mumbled Zuko. "I'm fine, could I try and get a little more sleep?"

"O' course, young sir," said the innkeeper. "I'm sure you'll find yer sister soon,"

"Great," muttered Zuko.

"You don' sound very enthusiastic," said the innkeeper pointedly.

Zuko groaned. "Maybe that's because I'm tired," he muttered.

"Ah righ', sorry sir," said innkeeper. "I'll stop mumblin' now, yeh'll need yer strength, yer sister migh' need yer help when you find her,"

"Great…" mumbled Zuko into his pillow. "Can I sleep now?"

"Sorry, young sir,"

Zuko heard the door shut and the floor creaking signalling that the innkeeper had gone to check on the other customers, and then the unmistakeable sound of footsteps on stairs.

It took a while for Zuko to understand what the old man had said.

"Might need your help when you find her?" he mumbled out loud. Somehow, it seemed like the old man knew more than what he was told. Zuko sighed and ignored the thought. _Probably just a coincidence, _he thought.

All was silent again apart from the storm outside. For several moments, Zuko just lay on the bed, face in his pillow, and then following another roll of thunder, was the sounds of a scuffle in the other room.

There were a couple of thumps and then a loud _THUD! _And the sounds of a lock clicking.

Several locks clicking.

More than that by the sounds of it.

And then a barely audible scraping sound coming from downstairs.

Zuko lifted his head and strained his ears for any other sounds of commotion. It was almost silent again, and the silence made Zuko feel uneasy.

He stood up and tried to open the window, but to no avail.

_Something's not right here…_

Zuko turned away from the window and studied the dark room, straining his eyes and ears for anything suspicious and he realised, the locks that were clicking were the window locks. The thud was a window getting slammed shut, and the barely audible scraping noise was the bolt of the door downstairs. By the sounds of it, he, and the other three customers were locked in the inn with no way out.

_Something's definitely not right here_…

"AANG! SOKKA! HELP!"

**

* * *

What's happening? What's going on? What's Katara yelling about? Why's Lan pretending that he doesn't know Katara, Aang and Sokka?**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	3. Masks

**Hi Guys!**

**Here is your next chapter! (Damn cold weather) Glad you like it so far!**

**Enjoy!**

**Standard disclaimers still and always will apply.**

**

* * *

Masks**

The window was open. That was the first thing Katara noticed upon entering the dark room. It was wide open, and the moth eaten cloth that was supposed to be the curtain was fluttering madly in the breeze. Water and hail blown by the gale-like wind spat into the room, wetting everything surrounding the unclosed window, chilling the already freezing room even more.

Katara shivered and squinted against the freeing cold wind billowing into the room. Tucking her hands into her parka's sleeves to warm them up, she made her way to the window to shut it but slipped on a puddle of water on the floor on the way. She made a grab for the curtain but accidentally pulled them down with her, landing on her bottom on the cold, hard floor.

The door opened and the innkeeper peered through the gap. "Everythin' alrigh' Miss?" he asked. "I 'eard a thump,"

Katara turned to him and shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine, just slipped, that's all,"

"D'you need a hand?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine,"

The old man shrugged. "If you're sure then," and he shut the door quietly again.

Katara stared at the door for a moment or two before looking to the moth eaten curtain lying across her lap. Sighing, she clutched the bedpost and pulled herself up slowly careful not to slip again. She moved slowly to the window and shut it with a loud _thud_.

Then there was a click. A lock click.

Katara frowned and looked down at the window lock at the same time as several other locks sounded followed by a faint, scraping sound coming from the tavern below.

Katara scratched her head in confusion as she turned to go back to bed.

There was another flash of lightning and the room was lit up temporarily, illuminating a masked figure on the other side of the room, before it went dark again.

Katara blinked not really believing what she had seen. She shook her head, dismissing what she'd seen and ambled back to the bed.

_Maybe I shouldn't have drunk that water…_she thought climbing back into bed.

_Wait…I didn't even touch that water…_

Lightning flashed again, and this time, it illuminated the room long enough for Katara to see the figure properly. She gasped and backed away, accidentally falling off the bed when she saw them.

The mask on the black clad form was red. It's face locked in a crazed grin, almost as if it was failing miserably at an attempt not to laugh at the girl's shock. It's empty eye sockets stared at her for a moment or two, and then quite suddenly, it charged towards her, unsheathing a long sword at the same time.

Katara gasped and moved out of the way just as it swiped at her head. Breathing heavily, she recovered from her initial shock and froze the…person's (were they even human?) feet to the ground using the water that had come in while the window was open. She exhaled shakily and backed away from the masked intruder, only to bump into someone else who pulled her up roughly and held her wrists behind her back.

Panicking, Katara did the only thing she could do at that moment.

"AANG! SOKKA! HELP!"

* * *

Sokka woke with a start at the sound of his sister's scream. He sat up, wondering why he was awake, not realising that Katara was in trouble, thinking that her scream was just part of the nightmare he was having.

Of course, it didn't really count as a nightmare, but for Sokka, any dream where food could walk and talk was a nightmare (food was meant to stay still so he could eat it).

He frowned slightly as he heard muffled voice coming from the other room. It sounded…he didn't know what it sounded like, it just sounded oddly like a muffled plea for help.

Sokka scratched his head and threw a pillow at Aang, who just mumbled and turned to face the opposite wall.

"Aang!" hissed Sokka. "Aang, wake up!"

"Mm?" mumbled Aang, not moving.

Sokka rolled his eyes and threw a second pillow at him. "Aang, wake up!"

Aang lifted his head sleepily and turned around. "What happened? Zuko hasn't caught up to us, has he?"

Sokka ran a palm over his face. "Aang—" he was cut off by the same muffled voice, this time it was slightly louder. "Can you hear that?"

Aang sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Hear what?" he asked groggily.

"Shh,"

The two were silent, trying to hear past the rain and thunder outside for anything coming from the other room. And then they heard it: a muffled scream coming from Katara's room.

Sokka's eyes widened as realisation hit him. "Katara's in trouble!"

He and Aang leapt out of their beds in unison, Aang grabbing his staff and Sokka snatching up his boomerang as they rushed towards the door. Sokka wrenched it open only to find himself face to face with four black clad figures, each wearing a different mask.

The two yelped and jumped backwards as the masked figures advanced towards them, each one unsheathing a weapon of some sort. Sokka and Aang assumed their battle stances and readied themselves to fight against the group of masked figures.

The figures wasted no time by standing around. Almost immediately, all four of them charged towards the two boys.

Aang jumped back as one of them rushed towards him, a spear in hand and aimed at the boy's stomach. Summoning a massive breath of air, he blew to of them away from him and Sokka sending them crashing against the wall. "Sokka!" called Aang as the water boy dodged a blow aimed at his head. "Find Katara, I'll take care of these…things,"

Sokka nodded and fought his way to the door, charging through it and running to his sister's room. "Katara!" he yelled, pounding at the door trying to get it open, just as another door burst open down the hall.

Sokka glanced quickly down the hall to see who it was who had kicked the door open by the sound of it, and then turned back to the door and began to pound on it again.

He did a double-take.

"What the hell—?"

"YOU!" yelled Sokka, recognizing who it was that had burst through the door. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Zuko glared at the water tribe boy. "What the hell is going on is what the question should be!" he spat.

"I don't know what the hell is going on, or what the hell you're doing around here," said Sokka, "but right now, can you leave us alone? We're kinda busy!"

"Masked things?"

"How could you tell?" hissed Sokka, beginning to pound at the door again.

"Why else would I have to kick the door open?" snapped Zuko.

Then came Aang's voice. "Zuko! I know you're out there, but now is not the time! We're all in danger here!"

Sokka opened his mouth to try and reply but didn't get the chance to as he was tackled down by one of the masked figures (the one with a depressed green mask) and sent tumbling down the old wooden staircase.

That quite magically, the stairs were pulled up by what seemed like an invisible chain. There was no way to the tavern now, and Sokka was stuck there quite alone.

"Avatar," began Zuko, "what the heck is—?"

"Screw it Zuko," snapped Aang while busy fighting another masked figure. They didn't seem to want to give up. "Capture me later, right now, we're in trouble and we need to get out of here! I suggest you help us if you want to get out of here alive!"

"Technically, nothing's—" Zuko was cut off again, this time by another masked figure materialising beside him, one with the easily recognisable mask of the Blue Spirit.

Zuko yelped in shock and ducked as a broad sword was swung where his head used to be.

"What were you about to say?" called Aang, fighting his way out of the room.

Zuko growled in frustration and dodged another one of the Blue Sprit's blows. "Nothing," he muttered as he fired a stream of flames towards it. It hurtled to the wall and fell to the ground where it lay still, almost as if it had been knocked unconscious.

With a wave of his arms, Aang blew the door to his room shut, and he and Zuko stood in the hallway, breathing heavily from the fight.

"Where's Sokka?" demanded the monk.

Zuko snarled as he answered. "He got tackled down the stairs, and then they closed up,"

"I can see that," snapped Aang. He sighed. "Look, it's obvious that these…people want to kill us. The only way we can get out of here is if we co-operate. Truce for now, alright?" he said holding out a hand for Zuko to shake.

Zuko stared at Aang's hand for a moment or two. "Do I have a choice?"

Aang sighed grimly. "Not if we want to get out of here alive,"

Zuko eyed Aang's hand but shook it anyway after a moment of hesitation. "When we get out of here, Avatar," he said as he gripped Aang, "we never speak of this incident again, and it's back to normal; I chase you all over the world, and you keep running,"

"Deal," said Aang.

All was silent again when Aang released Zuko's hand and went straight for the door, rattling the doorknob trying to get it open.

"What are you doing?" asked Zuko huffily.

"Trying to get the door—AH!" Aang was cut off when the Blue Spirit masked figure tackled him to the ground. At the same time, the door to Aang's room flew open again and the other three figures Aang had locked in there earlier came swarming out.

Zuko groaned in irritation. "Why won't these things just _stop_?" he growled, sending several flaming punches at the ones that had just come bursting out of door whilst Aang continued to fight the Blue Spirit.

Though Aang continued to fight, he could do nothing when the other three figures glared at Zuko but then teamed up on him and began dragging him into the room in which he was staying.

The door slammed shut and Aang's barely audible voice was heard over the sounds of the scuffle.

"Zuko! Find Katara! She needs help!"

"What makes you think I'll do that?" yelled Zuko so that Aang could hear him.

"We made a deal Zuko! Now find her!"

There was a loud crack of thunder and then silence from Aang's room. Zuko blinked in confusion but turned to face the door that both Aang and Sokka were trying to force open.

With a strong kick, the door unlocked and flung open and Zuko ducked as stream of flames shot towards his head. Though he was taken aback at the fact that theses masked figures could bend as well fight, Zuko didn't hesitate as he sent a ball of flames hurtling towards his attacker.

It hit them square in the chest and threw them back several feet.

Zuko turned to the other figure that was in the room but froze when he saw that they had the girl in a hostile position.

With one hand holding Katara's behind her back and the other with a knife pressed to her neck threatening to slit the girl's throat if needed, the figure stepped back dragging the girl with him.

Zuko began to step forward but stopped again when the figure pressed the knife considerably harder against Katara's neck—hard enough for a small stream of blood to begin to drip.

Katara flinched but said nothing, obviously still a little shocked from the fact that it was _Zuko_ saving her life, not her brother or Aang.

Not sure what was making him do it, Zuko glanced at the girl, trying reassure her, without the use of words, that she would be fine, and let his hands drop to his sides.

Katara stared at him trying to understand why he was there but remained silent.

"Tisk, tisk," said Zuko. _Why the hell am I doing this?_

"Using a woman as a shield—" _This is insane— _"How dishonourable can you get?"

Though the figure was wearing a mask, the glare they were giving Zuko was obvious.

"Why don't you let go of the girl, and fight me face to face?" said Zuko mockingly. "Or…are you not man enough to do so?"

The figure said nothing but it was apparent that they were angry. They released Katara and shoved her roughly onto the floor while glaring at Zuko, then threw an angry stream of fire towards him.

Zuko dodged it and kicked a fiery ball at the masked figure who evaded it and charged towards him. Zuko caught the figures arm threw him almost effortlessly to the wall, where they fell to the floor and lay unmoving.

Zuko started towards the girl who backed away into the wall instantly, her hands evidently tied behind her back.

Zuko ground his teeth and knelt down beside her, taking the knife that the figure had used that lay on the floor. He seized the girl's upper arm turned her around so that her back was facing him so that he could cut the ropes.

Once free, Katara rubbed her wrists and placed a hand on her neck where she had been cut. "Thanks…" she stuttered finally, recovering from the shock from the fact that Zuko had saved her life.

"We have to go," said Zuko.

Katara glared at him. "What? Go with _you_ so you can use me as bait?" she snapped.

Zuko ground his teeth in infuriation and tried his best to reply calmly. "I'm not going to use you as bait," he spat, "I made a deal with the Avatar that I would lay off for tonight, but we have to go,"

"Where?" demanded Katara as Zuko pulled at her upper arm so she would stand.

"Don't know," said Zuko, "but we can't stay here, or haven't you noticed that we're all in danger?"

Katara glared at him. "What about Aang and my brother?"

"They'll be fine," muttered Zuko as he slammed the door shut and started to walk to Aang and Sokka's door. "You're brother's downstairs—" he caught Katara eyeing the now closed up staircase—"And the Avatar should be in here,"

But as Zuko wrenched the door open, they found that the room was empty.

Katara glared at him. "Where's Aang supposed to be again?"

**

* * *

Are you confused yet?**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	4. Utter Confusion

**Hi Guys!**

**Sorry for the wait, but I had a science project to do and…wait…it's still not finished…oh well, I'll get it done eventually. Any who I've got two people to say something to:**

**First, Storm of Insanity, I know, I suck at action scenes, I can't write them for my life—that's a known fact, but I'm working on it. I doubt the one in this chapter's any better, but hey, I tried. I'm still working on it though…**

**And second, Atashi, the weather's better now, but to answer your question, I'm above Waihi, below Tawharanui and across from the Coromandel Peninsula. That's the best answer you'll get out of me for obvious reasons.**

**Enjoy!**

**Standard disclaimers _still _apply, there's no need to sue me.**

**

* * *

Utter Confusion**

"He was here!" said Zuko in utter shock and confusion as he gaped around the empty room. "He was dragged into this room just before I found you!"

Katara cast him a quick glare and pushed past him and into the dark room. "Aang?" she called. "Are you in here?"

There was no answer. Just silence along with the wind and rain pounding against the cold glass that was the window.

Katara sighed somewhat dejectedly and turned to Zuko. "How did you find us, Zuko?" she asked quietly, almost as if it was his fault that they were in such a situation. "How did you know we were here? Did Lan tell you or something?"

Zuko stared at her. "Who's Lan?"

"The innkeeper, who else?" she answered heatedly.

Zuko glared at her but didn't retort—she seemed depressed enough as it was, and as he was stuck with her until they got out of the building, the least he could do was be just the slightest bit nicer…he shook his head. He was losing it, dear Agni, he was _losing_ it. Still, he didn't retort, he just answered as calmly as he could manage, "No, he didn't tell me anything even though I told him I was looking for you and your friends. For about an hour or two, we—me, you, your brother and the Avatar, were all in the same building without realising that the enemy was down the hall,"

Katara blinked. "Lan lied to you?"

"Maybe he knew I was lying to _him_,"

"Why?" asked the girl. "What'd you tell him?"

"I told him I was looking for my sister," said Zuko without the slightest hesitation.

"But isn't your sister trying to kill you?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow at her, folded his arms across his chest and leant on the doorframe, waiting for Katara's brain to click.

And when it did, he almost laughed at her reaction.

"You told him _I _was your sister?" she half-yelled, torn between shock and anger. "What the hell possessed you to tell him that?"

"Would you rather I told him you were my girlfriend?" he asked. The girl's reactions were so much fun to watch, but he kept his usual demeanour, hiding his amusement from Katara.

She blushed slightly and fought hard to keep her face straight, but even through the dark, Zuko could still see how embarrassed she was. He smirked to himself and made a mental note to annoy her like this again sometime.

Katara wiped the blush off her face and scowled at him. "No," she hissed.

"Then what are you complaining about?" asked Zuko, "Quite frankly, I'm glad I didn't tell him that, so stop whining,"

Sneering at him, Katara asked, "What else did you tell him?"

"Just that I was looking for you," said Zuko, "and then he told me that I should stay the night, and then forced me up the stairs and into the room down the hall,"

Katara scratched her head in bewilderment. "I don't get it," she said slowly, "I went downstairs and spoke to Lan but he didn't say anything about another customer, and if you told him that you were looking for us…erm, _me_, he didn't say anything about anyone looking for anything…I feel confused…"

"You have no idea…" muttered Zuko under his breath.

"What have you got to be confused about?" asked Katara. "You just told the innkeeper I was related to you, if there's anyone that should be confused it'd be me,"

"You're one self-centred wench, aren't you?"

Katara glared at him. "Better than being a self-centred freak," she spat.

Zuko scowled. "Take that back!"

Katara crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Make me," she snapped.

Zuko growled in irritation, grasped her arm and held a flame next to her face, threatening to burn her skin. "Don't make me hurt you, peasant," snapped Zuko holding the flame closer to her face.

Katara looked from the flame to Zuko and back again and then let a smirk creep its way to her face. "You wouldn't do it anyway," said Katara, pushing his arm away. "The number of times you've used that threat, Zuko, it's getting boring now," She smirked at him again before walking past him and out of the room.

Zuko clenched his fists and ground his teeth to stop himself losing his temper outright, but he was not going to let her get away with that comment. Breathing deeply, he calmed himself before making his way out of the room, but not before he heard a loud thump followed by a shriek coming from the hallway.

He hurried out of the room to see what had happened and found Katara on the floor and staring at a staircase that had dropped from the roof revealing a door leading to another floor.

He glared at her and asked, "What happened?"

She shrugged and got to her feet brushing invisible dust off her dress. "Dunno," she said, "It just randomly fell from the roof almost landing on me,"

Zuko rolled his eyes just as the door to what used to be Katara's room flew open and the two red masked figures came bursting out of it and glared at them.

Katara gave a small gasp and backed away into the ladder while Zuko wasted no time and fired as stream of flames at the two figures who dodged them easily.

Zuko yelped as they charged towards them again. He dodged their first blow and turned to Katara. "Go," he said quickly, urging her up the ladder just as the Blue Spirit jumped out of another room. "Hurry up, go!"

"What? Up there?" said Katara eyeing the dark hole incredulously.

Zuko turned as one of the red ones slashed at him with a long sword. He backed into Katara and ground his teeth. "Do you have a death wish, peasant? Go!" he barked.

"But—"

"Katara, MOVE!"

Katara jumped at the sudden command and did as she was told, climbing up the ladder as fast as she could. "Zuko, get up here!" she called once she was up.

Zuko threw a blast of fire at the Blue Spirit and hurried up the ladder, just as the red masked firebender jumped forward. Katara moved back as Zuko climbed through the trapdoor. He leant over the door only to see a huge explosion of fire rushing up the ladder towards them. Without thinking, Zuko leapt at Katara, shielding her from the explosion as it erupted through the trapdoor.

The fire receded, and Zuko rushed forward and slammed the trapdoor shut, plunging them both into darkness.

* * *

Sokka groaned and rubbed his head as he woke. "What happened?" he mumbled drowsily, ignoring the stabbing pain in his head. He stared around him wondering what he was doing in the tavern when memory came flying back to him.

His sister's scream, the masked figures, everything came flooding back into his mind. "Katara!" he called. "Aang! Where are you?"

There were no answers. Sokka sighed irritably and looked around for the figure that had tackled him down the stairs, but even he (he assumed that the figure was a he) was nowhere to be found.

He looked around for the stairs and found that even _they _had gone missing.

"Great," he mumbled to himself through gritted teeth, running a palm over his face. "Stuck here alone on a creepy night with Aang and Katara both stuck upstairs, this had better not get worse 'cuz if it does, some one might die,"

* * *

Zuko lit a flame in the palm of his hand and let its dim light flood the dark room. It didn't do much, all it enabled Zuko to see was the trapdoor he had just slammed shut and Katara, who was huddled against a large crate.

"I take it back," she said meekly. "You're not a self-centred freak, sorry,"

Zuko glared at her for a second but his expression softened the slightest bit and he sighed. "Look," he said, "let's just find a way to get out of here in one piece, and then after that, none of this ever happened, got it?"

Katara nodded.

The two teenagers sat together in silence for several moments listening to the storm raging outside, trying to make sense of the confusing situation they had been caught in. Katara fidgeted with her skirt whilst Zuko played with the flame in his hand, making his and Katara's shadows flicker about in the dim light.

Neither teen said anything for a while until Katara spotted something small and red lying on the ground.

"What's this?" she mumbled, leaning forward to pick it up. Zuko stilled the flame he was playing with and looked up at her.

"What are you doing?" he asked snappishly, raising an eyebrow at her.

Katara cast him a quick glance before studying the thing in her hand. It was a small red pendant in the shape of a flame, made from a rock similar to the pendant at the base of her neck.

"What are you trying to do, peasant?" snapped Zuko.

Katara glared at him quickly before looking back at the pendant. "Use my name, Zuko," she retorted, "I know for a fact that you know it,"

Zuko gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes. "What are you doing, _Katara_?"

"Guess," she said impassively, still studying the small pendant.

Zuko growled irritably and extinguished the flame in his hand so he could stand up.

Katara looked up at him through the dark and frowned when she heard footsteps. "Zuko, where're going?" she asked, standing up as well and pocketing the pendant.

"What? I'm not going anywhere,"

"Zuko, if we wanna get out of here alive, we may as well stick together," she said, folding her arms across her chest and staring at him through the dark.

"Katara, what the hell are you talking about?" snapped Zuko, lighting up the room again with another flame. "I'm right here! I'm not going anywhere!"

Katara frowned again. "But…I just heard…did you…?"

"Are you okay?" asked Zuko staring at her over the flame as if she had grown an extra head. "You seem delusional…"

"I am not delusional!" snapped the girl. "There were footsteps! I just heard loud, heavy footsteps walking away from here! Didn't you hear them?"

"You know, I'm supposed to be your enemy and all, but you're really starting to scare me, peasant, joke's over, stop it," said Zuko, backing away from her slightly.

"Zuko, _you_ stop it!" snapped Katara. "I just heard them! Didn't you?"

"Heard what?" hissed Zuko exasperatedly.

The footsteps sounded again, this time, each was louder than the last.

"Listen," whispered Katara, straining her ears for the loud thuds.

Zuko did the same, and this time he heard them: loud, heavy thuds becoming louder and louder signalling that whoever was making them was coming closer to the two teenagers.

Zuko extinguished the flame and made a grab for Katara's wrist, pulling her down and crawling to the nearest crate he could feel for to hide, but the footsteps didn't stop coming. They came closer and closer until they stopped, just behind the crate Katara and Zuko were hiding behind.

**

* * *

Who's coming? You guys aren't the only ones confused, Katara and Zuko are too, and no, you're not going to find out what happened to Aang just yet. You will, but not yet.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	5. The Innkeeper's Story

**Hi Guys!**

**I've decided to be nice, you can find out what happens to Aang now, since most of you are confused. But I can almost guarantee that you won't be not confused for long (evil grin).**

**Enjoy!**

**If any part of my work becomes canon (apart from the things that are bound to become canon—Zuko joining the Aang Gang for instance), you'll know if I own it or not.**

**

* * *

The Innkeeper's Story**

"Avatar…? Avatar…?"

Aang groaned as a voice floated around in his head. It sounded somewhat familiar but he couldn't quite place it. He tried to open his eyes and found that his eyelids were extremely heavy.

"Wake up Avatar…"

Aang groaned again and with a slight heave, he managed to lift his eyelids and propped himself groggily up onto his elbows. "Wha' happened?" he asked drowsily, looking around himself in confusion.

"Innit obvious, sir? Ye fell asleep on the floor!"

"Lan?"

"Yes, young 'un, are you okay?" asked the innkeeper.

"I'm fine," murmured Aang sitting up and rubbing his head. It took a while for him to remember what had happened. "Where's Katara?" he asked, suddenly wide awake. "And Sokka? Are they okay?"

"Erm…they shoul' be…"

Aang raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't know, do you?"

"Sorry, young Avatar," said Lan giving him a cheesy grin.

Aang shook his head in slight irritation. "Where am I?"

"Same room you were suppose' t' sleep in, found you under the bed…strange place t' sleep really…"

Aang rolled his eyes at the innkeeper. "Look," he said exasperatedly. "I need to find Katara and Sokka…and Zuko, the Prince of the Fire Nation who just happened to end up in the same inn as us. We need to get out of here, there're people trying to kill us! Lan, can you help me find them?"

"O' course, o' course," said Lan. "I'll go look fer them now, alrigh'?" He left without another word.

Aang stared after him, feeling quite bewildered about the entire situation.

"This can't possibly get any weirder…" he muttered to himself quietly.

* * *

Sokka stood on the counter and pounded loudly on the trapdoor. "Aang! Katara! Can you hear me?" he called.

Like the several other times he had tried, there was no answer.

He sighed irritably and jumped off the counter. He'd tried again and again to get the trapdoor open, yet he _still _couldn't open it. It was like the trapdoor was impervious to all attempts to get it open by force.

He wondered vaguely if there was some sort of key.

Sokka clicked his tongue, jumped over the counter, and rummaged through the filthy shelves of filthy glasses to find anything that might help him in his next attempt to open the trapdoor when a crash resonated through the tavern.

He looked up and over the counter and found 'Green Depression', as Sokka called the green masked figure now (he was trapped in a tavern with no way out and nothing to do but his futile attempts to open the trapdoor and so he had come up with a quick name for the figure that had attacked him…this led to the temporary belief that he was insane, but he dismissed it after ten minutes or so), was back.

He groaned. "_Dammit_!"

* * *

Katara and Zuko leant uneasily behind the crate, waiting anxiously with baited breath for whoever it was to leave them alone. The funny tingly feeling one gets while waiting for something lingered about in their stomachs as they hid as silently as they could behind the large wooden box.

Quietly as she could, Katara peered around the edge of the box to see if she could get some idea of who it was, but Zuko pulled her back as the heavy footfalls sounded again. She gasped slightly when Zuko dragged her around to the other side of the crate as the footfalls came around to the side where they were just hiding.

Zuko heard her and glared at her through the dark. He placed a hand over her mouth to stop her from making any more noise.

She froze and held her breath again, amplifying the almost deafening silence, but what they heard next both surprised and relieved then.

"I's okay, you two, you can come ou',"

Both teenagers jumped and peered around the edge of the crate. It didn't really do them any good—they still couldn't see anything, but Zuko lit a flame in the palm of his hand, making it light enough for the two to see the old man.

Katara sighed and placed a hand on her chest where her heart had hammered for so long. "Dear La, thank the gods it's only you!" she said, almost laughing in relief.

"Everythin' alrigh'?" asked the old innkeeper grinning his toothy grin once again.

"No," snapped Zuko from behind the girl. "What the hell is going on around here, old man?"

The innkeeper blinked. "Sorry?" he said, scratching his balding head in confusion.

"What do you mean 'sorry'?" hissed the Fire Prince angrily, standing up and stepping forward, "You own the bloody inn, you know full well what's going on around here!"

"Zuko, calm down!" snapped Katara and pulling on his arm in case he saw the need to set something on fire. She turned her attention to the old man, who was now staring up at the dark ceiling as if trying to remember something. "What _is_ going on around here?" she asked. "We've just been attacked by a bunch of masked people, Aang's disappeared and Sokka's stuck down in the tavern with no way up. _What is going on_?"

"Ah, the masked figures…" he said thoughtfully. "Righ' then, you two, 'le' me tell yous the story," He sat down cross-legged on the floor, motioning for the two teenagers to do the same.

They did so, Zuko scowling at the same time.

"Ligh' this for me, will ya, it'll make I' much easier t' see fer all o' us," he said, taking out a small lantern.

"What makes you think—"

"Just do it, Zuko," snapped Katara in a tone so dangerous and glaring at him with a gaze so cold that he had to fight not to flinch.

Zuko scowled again but lit it anyway.

"Listen closely, the both o' you, there's information in this story you migh' need," he said, before he cleared his throat and began:

"You see, aroun' fifty years ago, Itara was like every other Earth Kingdom village, excep' tha' i' didn' mind lettin' Fire Nation Soldiers enter i' to stay the nigh' and such. There were several Fire Nation citizens tha' lived 'ere too—the ones tha' hated the war and didn' wan' t' believe tha' they were born in the Fire Nation. Itara, in tha' time, welcomed almos' anyone into the village, as long as no one was goin' t' figh'. Very peaceful in those times, Itara was, very peaceful.

"Then the army came. They were ruthless, they were. They came led by some general person, don' really 'is name…I migh', but maybe I've forgotten…i'll come back t' me eventually…anyway, they came and knocked on every door. Interroga'ed everybody. If no one answered the door, they'd break i' down. If someone lied and they coul' tell, they'd slaugh'er them. If they found 'trai'ors', as tha' stupid general called them, refugees from the Fire Nation, they'd kill 'em. Bu' the wors' thing is tha' they killed everyone anyway—innocen', guil'y, Fire Nation or Wa'er Nation or Earth Nation, they killed _everyone_. Even if they did tell them the information they wan'ed t' know.

"I know wha' yer thinkin', young 'un," he said, seeing the shocked look on Katara's face. "Evil, li'l buggers…no' referrin' t' you o' course," he added gesturing at Zuko. "I'm talkin' about the ones fifty years ago, go' nothin' on you a' all. Bu' you see, they _murdered _all these people. Burn' them, stabbed them, absolutely _slaugh'ered _them fer no reason wha'soever, and they lef' the bodies lying all over the village to ro'.

"There were so many: men, women, children, all lyin' dead in the dark stree's o' Itara, lef' there fer rats and vultures to ea' and pick a'. "

Katara placed a hand to her mouth as the old man finished. "Who'd do such a thing?" she asked, horrified at the thought that so many people died in the village that they were staying in.

Zuko shook his head almost as if he didn't care that so many people died in that one place. Katara supposed that he'd heard about such things so many times that he was used to the idea of death, murder, massacres and genocides.

"That doesn't explain anything," he snapped, glaring at the elderly innkeeper. "That doesn't explain why the stupid masked people are trying to kill us. All that story explains is why this village is so bloody quiet,"

"Oh, tha's no' all of the story," said the innkeeper. "I only know half of i',"

The two teenagers blinked.

"What do you mean you only know half of it?" roared Zuko, getting to his feet with flames erupting out of his clenched fists. "You own the stupid inn! What the hell do you mean by you only know half of it?"

"Easy there, fella, calm down," said the old man, getting to his feet as well and brushing off invisible dust casually as he stood up.

Katara, who had also gotten to her feet in irritation, could no longer keep her facial expression under control. She glared at the old man, her gaze icy, irritated and infuriated. "Lan, what the hell is going on?" she snapped.

The innkeeper blinked again. "Lan? Oh no, you mus' have me mistaken, I'm Li, Lan's me brother—he knows the res' o' the story,"

**

* * *

Lan has a twin! You know, I'm trying to fanaticise some of the looks on some people's faces right now…**

**Wasn't this chapter random?**

**R'n'R**

**JJ **


	6. Stuck Together, Stay Together

**Hi Guys!**

**I've confused people enough, I think, time to unconfused you slightly, let's run over the confusing stuff so far:**

**-Zuko was forced to stay n the same building as his enemy  
****-Masked figures have tried to kill all four characters  
****-Each of the characters are stuck on a different floor (with the exception of Katara and Zuko who are stuck on the same floor)  
****-And there are two innkeepers who are twins: Lan and Li.**

**All caught up? Good, some of those questions of yours might be answered in this chap.**

**Enjoy!**

**I do not own the Avatar, I do not own them, Sam you are. (Don't you love 'Green Eggs and Ham'? I know I do, like Sam I am!)**

**

* * *

Stuck Together, Stay Together**

Both teenagers blinked as another crack of thunder broke the temporary silence that came at Li's last statement.

"Lan has a…? You're his…?" Katara stepped backwards into Zuko in utter perplexity, jaw slightly ajar and giving Li an unbelieving glance. "There are two of you?" she stuttered finally.

"Two of us tha' run the inn, miss, perhaps my brother and I should've warned you tha' we're iden'ical twins," said Li, giving them a sheepish grin. He reached for the lantern that was still sitting on the floor and raised it so that the light was spread more evenly around the dark room.

"Oh…my brain," Katara groaned, massaging her temples. "I think it might die if I get any more confused…"

Li chuckled. "I apologise again, young 'un, we really should've warned you all."

Zuko shook his head after recovering from the slight shock. He pushed Katara (who was still leaning on him as if he were a wall) off of him and glared at the old man. "Look," he growled irritably, "we need to get out of here, can you just…help us find her brother and the Avatar so we can leave?"

Li shook his head. "Sorry, young sir, I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" demanded Katara folding her arms across her chest.

"I can't," said Li. "I can't because the door in the tavern's locked."

"Locked?"

"Bolted shu'," he explained. "Once i's locked, i' won't open again until the sun rises, something else tha' my dear old brother'll have to explain to you, I never really knew how tha' worked. Lan knows all the complica'ed magic sorta stuffs. I only do the history."

The two teenagers gaped at him until finally Katara gave a resigned sigh. "Alright," she said, "so we have to find Lan to get the rest of the explanation, and even if we do find him, we're stuck in here 'til dawn. Anything else we need to know?"

Li thought for moment, rubbing his thumb and forefinger on the sides of his chin as he did so. At long last, he looked up at the two and shook his head. "None tha' I can think of…" he said slowly.

"Wait," said Zuko suddenly, eyeing Li suspiciously. "Which one of you was it that told me you hadn't seen _her_?" he gestured at Katara by jerking his thumb in her direction. The girl glared at him with the same icy glare she gave Li, but he shrugged it off.

"Tha' was me," said Li.

"Why'd you tell me that she wasn't here and then force me to stay in the same building?" asked Zuko.

Li shrugged. "I didn' know she was 'ere, Lan told them t' stay the nigh', did he not?" he asked, turning to Katara. "And besides, you aren't really 'is sister, are you young 'un?"

"No…" said Katara, glaring at Zuko again.

Li chuckled once more. "Didn' think so," he said, and then added to Zuko, "You're a bad liar, y'know."

Zuko scowled at him, but Li could nothing more than grin.

There was yet another silence between the two teenagers and the old man until Li spoke up again.

"Well young 'uns, I have to go," he said, turning to leave.

Almost at once, the two began to complain.

"What? Where? You can't just leave us here!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Where? We _are_ going with you, right?"

Li sighed. "Kids," he muttered under his breath, and then to Katara and Zuko: "Calm down, the both o' you! Listen to me!"

"But—"

"You can't—"

"Listen!" The two quietened in mid sentence as Li began to speak again. "Listen," he said again quietly, "I can't 'elp you as much as I'd like to, I can only give you shoves in the righ' direction. You 'ave to figure ou' wha' t' do t' ge' ou' of here on yer own."

"Why?" demanded Zuko.

"'Coz tha's 'ow i' works," said Li with a shrug. "You migh' wanna ask Lan abou' tha' too."

Without another word, he grinned at the two a final time and turned to leave. Much to their own surprise, they did not call him back. Instead, they watched the light from his lantern weave this way, then that way, until finally, it went out…either that or they could just no longer see it because Li had walked behind a crate or through a door or something.

Katara sighed impatiently and sat down on the crate that they had been hiding behind, her chin resting on her palm, her elbow resting upon her knee. "Great…" she muttered. "Alone again, but at least we know that we have to find Lan, how's that going to add to our predicament?"

"Dunno," snapped Zuko lighting another flame in his palm and beginning to pace around, "but let's add it all up, shall we? We're stuck in this inn until dawn, we're stuck on this floor until we figure out how to get off it, we can't find your brother and or the Avatar, a bunch of masked people are trying to kill us all, we have no idea what the hell is going on, turns out there are two innkeepers who are identical twins and I'm stuck with a filthy peasant from a no-name tribe until we can leave…this sucks, doesn't it?"

Katara glared at him. "That question was rhetorical and that remark about me was uncalled for," she hissed. She sighed again and looked up at his dimly lit face. "Just lay off for the night, Zuko, _please_, we can't get out of here if we're arguing, so just please, _please _lay off."

Zuko scowled again but he said nothing else. Instead, he sat down next to Katara and fiddled more with the flame.

There was a long, uneasy silence. Neither had anything to say until at long last, Katara spoke again.

"Any idea on how to get out of here?" she asked quietly.

"Nope."

"Any clue where we can find Lan?"

"Nope."

"You're not being very helpful, Zuko."

"Well it's not like you're the genius who can figure out how to get out of here," snapped Zuko with an obvious air of irritation.

"You're not them either!" protested Katara, standing up suddenly, "Stop being so infuriating and let's just figure out how to leave!"

"_How _do we do that, exactly?"

Katara sighed jadedly and placed her hands on her hips, laying most of her weight on her left foot. "Well I guess we don't have any other choice—we have to find Lan."

* * *

"Lan? Where'd you go?"

Aang sighed as he wandered aimlessly down the narrow hall, checking each room for his friends and the now absent innkeeper. He scratched his bald head in slight confusion as he shut the door to the last room in the hallway, finding it empty, and approached the ladder that had literally dropped from the roof. Looking up, he noticed that it led to a closed trapdoor.

He tilted his head to the side as curiosity found its way into his head. He climbed the first few rungs tentatively and upon reaching the top of the ladder, he pushed on the trapdoor as an attempt to get it open, but it came as no surprise to him when it didn't open.

He sighed an exasperated sigh and began to pound on the trapdoor.

And then he heard voices.

"What was that?" asked the first voice. It was female and vaguely familiar.

And then the second voice said dry and unenthusiastically, "Dunno, and don't really care."

"Wait, maybe they can help!" said the first voice.

And then the second voice again: "And maybe they're just another set of people who want to confuse and then kill us."

"It's worth a try," said the first. There was a thump and then the voice called out loudly, "Lan! Are you there?"

Aang blinked. Was that—?

"Katara? Is that you?" he called, pounding on the door.

There was a pause, and then, "Aang?"

"Yeah!" said Aang, feeling extremely relieved. "Are you okay? Is that Zuko up there with you? He hasn't tried to kill you, has he?"

Katara laughed nervously. "No, and yeah, I'm fine, are you?"

Then Zuko's sarcastic and irritated voice interrupted them. "Can we carry on this pointless conversation later? Because it'd be really great if we could just get out of here."

Aang sighed huffily and snapped at Zuko through the trapdoor. "Yes Zuko, I'm fine, thanks so much for your concern." He sighed again and directed his next statement to Katara. "Katara, do you have any idea what's going on around here? I just spoke to Lan and he said—"

"You spoke to Lan?" interrupted Katara, suddenly sounding oddly hopeful. "Where did he go?"

"I dunno, he just said he went to find Sokka and now I don't know where he is but—" Aang paused in mid sentence. "You know what?" he continued suddenly, "Who gives? What is going on?"

"Did you just say 'who gives?' about my brother?" asked Katara suddenly and sounding rather taken aback.

Aang slapped his hand to his forehead as he realised his mistake. "What? No! That's not what I meant at all! What I meant was—ah, screw it! Look, I just want to know what's happening, okay? I meant that I didn't know where Lan was and I don't really care! So do you two know anything about what's happening or what?"

He heard the two sigh in frustration.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" he asked, feeling slightly perplexed.

"Aang, Lan knows what's happening around here! Why didn't you ask him?" said Katara. She sounded quite exasperated.

"I did!" he said, and then added quietly to himself, "Didn't I?"

Apparently Katara heard him. She sighed again in irritation. "Aang, listen," she said, "Lan has a twin, his name's Li and he just told us that the Fire Nation massacred the entire village about fifty years ago. He said that the masked people have got something to do with the history of this village."

"Lan has a twin?" interrupted Aang.

"Do we have to spell it out for you, Avatar?" snapped Zuko.

There was a muffled sound "Ow!" (which sounded suspiciously like Zuko being elbowed in the ribs), and then Katara's voice telling Zuko to shut up, and a moment later, Katara began to speak again.

"Li also said that we won't be able to get out of here until dawn because the door in the tavern's locked. Once it's locked it won't unlock again until sunrise—don't ask me why, I don't know why, Lan knows why. Li said that there was some sort of magic going on around here that only Lan understands. He also said that he can't help us because we have to figure this out on our own."

"So we're stuck here?" asked Aang incredulously. "We're stuck in here until dawn?"

"Don't tell me she needs to use smaller words, Avatar," said Zuko impatiently. "I would expect that even you could understand the peasant's vocabulary."

"Shut up Zuko!" hissed Katara, loud enough for Aang to hear.

"What? I can't just leave you here, the least I can do is be snappish."

Aang had nagging suspicion that Katara had just rolled her eyes before speaking again. "Listen, Aang, just find Lan, okay? If you run into Li, ask him if he's seen him alright?"

"How am I supposed to tell the difference?" asked Aang.

"Ask, you dolt," snapped Zuko.

"Zuko, please, just shut _up_."

"I don't need to do anything for you, peasant—"

"Use my name, please."

Aang rolled his eyes and sighed. "The both of you," he snapped, "shut it. You're giving me a headache!"

"Sor-ry," snapped Zuko heatedly.

Katara sighed again. "Aang's right, let's just find Lan and Sokka so we can get out of here, okay?"

Aang nodded, forgetting that Katara and Zuko couldn't see him.

"Aang?"

"Yeah, I heard that," said Aang so that they could hear him. "Let's go."

**

* * *

Feeling slightly less confused?**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	7. Sick

**Hi Guys!**

**Sorry for the slight wait, I have two valid reasons: I have been coaching the Intermediate Literature Team and getting them ready for the big Kids' Lit Quiz, and I had a massive case of Writer's Block, probably because the previous chapter was the sixth chapter.**

**Any who, I apologise in advance if this turns out to be weird and crap and yeah…**

**So, enjoy!**

* * *

**Sick**

Zuko watched impassively as Katara sighed and sat back on her heels after hearing Aang's footsteps begin to descend down the wooden ladder beneath the trapdoor. Tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, she turned wearily to Zuko, placing a hand to her neck where a small stream of blood began to drip from the cut one of the Figures had given her.

"Now what?" she asked, eyeing him over the small, flickering flame which he held in his palm.

Zuko looked up at her uninterestedly and shrugged. "We have to find Lan or whatever his name is, don't we?" he answered monotonously.

There was a small pause and then Katara spoke up again.

"No use just sitting here, then," said Katara, sighing again and moving to stand up. Her hand, Zuko noticed, didn't leave her neck. She swayed slightly for a moment or two but regained her balance quickly.

Zuko frowned. "Are you okay?" he asked suddenly, concern easily noticeable in his tone.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," said Zuko, standing up and approaching her. "You look a little pale."

Katara scoffed. "Why do you care all of a sudden?" she asked, backing away on instinct. "Did you suddenly grow a conscience or something?"

Zuko scowled at her. "Look, peasant, I'm trying to _help_ you, so quit being a stubborn idiot and let me!"

"I don't need any _help_," she snapped, backing away even more as he advanced. "I'm fine. The only way you can help me with this—" she gestured at her neck with her other hand, "—is if you have any water. I'd be able to heal myself if you did, but if you don't, then thanks for the offer, but I'm fine."

"Peasant, just let me _see_!" snapped Zuko indignantly. He caught her other wrist and pulled her towards him, sitting her down on a nearby crate. "I just want to see how bad that cut is, alright?" he said through gritted teeth, and kneeling down in front of her. "Move your hand…"

Katara harrumphed irritably as Zuko took her hand and moved it away from her neck, and then tilted her head up and to the side slightly, lifting his other hand (the one with the flame in it) so he could see properly.

She sighed huffily as Zuko pushed her loose brown hair out of the way, not sure whether she liked him being this close to her or not. One side of her brain told her to push him away and insist that she was fine, the other side was trying to savour the feel of the warmth emanating from his hands…

"It's not deep," said Zuko suddenly, jolting Katara out of her thoughts, "and it's definitely not fatal—if it was you'd be dead already, but it's bleeding more than it should do…" He extinguished the flame in his hand and tore a piece of cloth off the bottom of his shirt. Lighting the flame up again, he found the cut and began to wipe the blood away from it when Katara, finally coming to her senses, pushed his hand away and stood up.

"Zuko, stop it, I'm fine!"

"Sit down! That cut needs to be cleaned!"

"Hey! Zuko, I'm a healer! I've been taught to heal! When I say I'm fine, I _am _fine! Quit fussing!"

Zuko snarled. "And I'm the Prince of the Fire Nation who for two years has led a crew of grown men! I _know _what I'm doing!"

"So do I, damn it!"

"Just let me wipe the rest of that blood away, alright?"

"No, it's _fine_, if it makes you feel better, I'll do it myself," she held out her hand for the cloth and scowling, Zuko handed it over. "Why do you care anyway?" she asked, carefully dabbing at the cut.

Zuko shot her a glare but had a moment's hesitation before answering. "Why do you think?" he jeered, unable to think up any other excuse—truth was, it was just a random act of humanity for the girl; he couldn't see what was wrong with it, they were stuck together until sunrise anyway, there wasn't any harm in helping her. Come to think of it, she really _did _look quite pale…

"I think," said Katara with a slight smirk creeping to her face, "that you've gone soft."

Zuko scowled, but was saved from having to answer to that remark by the sound of…was that chains?

He extinguished the flame again and the two stood stock still as the sound of chains, clanking and being dragged along the dusty wooden floor became louder and louder, until quite suddenly, they stopped.

There was silence for several moments. An uneasy silence, that even with no sound sent shivers down both teenagers' spines.

"What was that?" whispered Katara quietly, but loud enough for Zuko to hear her.

"Sh!"

A dim yellowish light suddenly lit up in the distance. Whoever had lit it was shining the beam of light in another direction and slowly moving the light about the dark room, almost as if they were looking for something.

"Move," said Zuko quietly, reaching for Katara's wrist and beginning to drag her forward. "We have to move, _now_."

"Wait, what if it's Lan or Li?" muttered Katara.

"It's no one we want to see this time, trust me," said Zuko. "Come on, hurry."

"We can't see a thing!" she hissed exasperatedly. "Where are we supposed to go?"

"Somewhere _they_ can't find us, now let's move!"

"Where?"

"Get down!"

Katara yelped softly as Zuko pulled her down into a crouching position behind the crate she had been sitting on just as the beam of light shone in their direction. Reflexes acting quickly, Zuko placed an arm behind her head and covered her mouth with his hand to stop her from making anymore noise.

The light shone in that same direction for several moments, and then the chains began to sound across the floor again, coming closer and closer to the crate they were hiding behind.

It shone just above their heads, and that was enough for Zuko to signal to Katara to follow him and be quiet. Katara nodded and began to crawl after Zuko as he moved forward to another crate.

The light and whoever was holding it seemed to be following them as they moved slowly from crate to crate, as if it was trying to find _them _in particular, but then, as Zuko thought, it probably _was_ trying to find them anyway.

The room, they noticed with the light seeming to follow them as they crept about, was literally, _littered_ with odd, antiqued trinkets from what seemed like Li's story. Swords, shields, little girls' dolls even, all slightly singed with burn marks here and there. It was almost haunting really.

Leaning against one crate was a pile of old swords and armour, and Zuko noted dimly that they were all from the Fire Nation. He crawled past them quietly and several moments later there was a loud _CRASH_!

Zuko gritted his teeth and glared over his shoulder at Katara. She mouthed at him apologetically just as the light flashed towards them—only two inches above Katara's head. And then the chains, loud and clanking, began to drag themselves across the floor again, this time towards them.

"Move, quickly!" hissed Zuko, starting to crawl hastily across the wooden floor.

"Zuko, I can't!"

"Katara, what the—?" He turned back to look at her, lighting a small flame in his palm again so he could see and ground his teeth again when he saw what had happened. A broadsword had Katara's skirt pinned to the ground, and try as she might to get free, she was stuck. What was worse, she now looked _very _pale.

Growling in frustration, he hurried back to help her. "You're an infuriating wench, you know that?" he muttered under his breath.

"Insult me later, move now," she said quickly, her voice rather unsteady.

"Move over," commanded Zuko. She did so, the back of her skirt stretching to its full extent as the clanking chains grew louder and the light grew brighter. Wasting no time, he placed one foot on her skirt (the part nearest the blade) and shot the material surrounding the sword with a quick blast of fire. The material burnt quickly, and Zuko seized Katara's wrist, hauled her upwards, and ran into the dark with only the small flickering flame he held in his palm again as light.

And then, somewhat abruptly, the noise and clanking stopped, and upon realising this, the two teenagers stopped too and turned around. There was an awkward pause and then a huge gust of wind and dust.

Zuko extinguished the flame again and raised his arms to shield his face from the sudden gust of wind. He felt Katara do the same from beside him, and when the wind stopped and he looked up again, the light was gone, and they were in darkness once more.

* * *

Katara shivered slightly and sat down leaning against another crate as Zuko lit yet another flame. The cut on her neck was really starting to sting and as much as she hated to admit it, she felt sick. Worse than sick, she felt dizzy, faint, extremely cold, slightly short of breath, had a bad headache and she wanted to puke. Even worse than that, Zuko could tell. 

He knelt down in front of her and eyed her carefully, almost as if he was genuinely concerned.

Katara tried to push him away and opened her mouth to insist that she was fine, but Zuko caught her wrist and tilted her head to the side again as he inspected her neck. His face remained indifferent for a few seconds, before standing up and used his firebending to open the crate that she was leaning on.

"Zuko, what are you doing?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Looking for anything that might help in this situation," answered Zuko as he rummaged through the contents of the crate. "And don't tell me that you're fine, because you're not."

She scoffed weakly. "What makes you think that?"

"You honestly think I would answer such an obvious question?" said Zuko, not looking at her. "Fifteen minutes ago you were fine, now look at you, you can barely talk properly…"

"I can too talk properly!" she snapped, trying to get up. She wobbled dangerously on the spot and Zuko caught her arm and forced her to sit back down again.

"This'll do," he muttered, finding a small candle and candle stand in one corner of the crate. He knelt down again in front of her, lighting the candle and setting it in the candle stand and putting it on the ground. He leant forward again and examined Katara's neck without bothering to ask. "I don't get it…" he muttered, "no one gets sick _that _fast just because of a cut, unless that knife wasn't normal even though it looked like it was, but I doubt that…"

Katara lifted her hand again and tried to push his away, but he caught her wrist again. "Stop it Zuko, I'm _fine_, just leave me alone."

"No, you're _not _fine, now just shut up for a second so I can figure out what's wrong with you," snapped Zuko, tearing a bit more cloth off the bottom of his shirt and dabbing at the cut. "I'm not even going to try to understand why you're so stubborn…"

"Look who's talking," snapped Katara, glaring at him.

"You know, we're _enemies_ and I'm breaking the rules just by helping you like this, so the least you could do is shut up for a few seconds," hissed Zuko irritably.

"What rules? How are you breaking rules? And why are you breaking them anyway?" asked Katara.

"The…rules!" snapped Zuko, "I'm breaking them by helping you and because I made a deal with the Avatar that I'd lay off."

"That's a good idea," said the girl suddenly, "_Lay off_. I'm fine, alright, just…stop. Why are you fussing so much anyway?"

"I thought I already told you that."

"No, you asked me what I thought as an answer, which leads me to think—" she paused slightly as Zuko stopped dabbing at her neck and placed a hand on her forehead to check if she had any signs of fever, "—that you've gone soft."

Zuko snarled. "I have not gone soft!" he hissed. "Katara, just…shut up. You're really starting to irritate me."

"Why are you helping me, then?"

"Because I am, isn't that enough for you?" Zuko paused, and then added, "You owe me big time, peasant…Katara?"

Katara didn't hear him. She groaned as a fresh wave ofdzziness overwhelmed her. Her vision swam before her, and all she could hear was a deafening silence and her name, echoing through the blur of colours swimming before her eyes.

"Katara? Are you okay?"

She could hear his voice becoming slightly panicked, but she couldn't remember who it was anymore. She felt her arm being lifted and shaken as if trying to get her attention, but she couldn't think; she couldn't _focus…_

"Katara, can you hear me?"

That was the last thing she heard before her vision went black.

**

* * *

So was it okay? I know that Zuko's slightly out of character, but Writer's Block does that. You might be a tad confused again, but trust me, it'll probably be worse next chapter. **

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	8. Nightmarish Reality

**Hey Guys!**

**Thanks for all your reviews! They make me a very happy girl…anywho, here's your next chapter! Hope you enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer: (starts singing to the Beach Boys' song: _Wouldn't it Be Nice?_)  
Wouldn't it be nice if I owned Avvy,  
I would make sure it would show all day,  
Katara and Zuko would be together,  
Making many fans shout "Hip Hooray!" **

It's a shame that this is only a dream,  
But owning Avvy would be _really_ sweet!

Wouldn't it be nice?

**

* * *

Nightmarish Reality**

"Katara? Can you hear me?"

Zuko growled and ground his teeth as Katara's eyes slipped out of focus and when her eyelids began droop. He took hold of her shoulder and tried to shake her awake, but it made no difference. Sighing in both anxiety and irritability, Zuko placed one arm behind her neck and another under her knees, and carefully, he lifted her limp body and lay her gently on the ground in more comfortable position.

Katara shivered in her sleep, and Zuko, noticing this, placed the back of his hand to the unwounded side of her neck to check her temperature again. Panic began to grow in the back of his mind when he realised how clammy she was.

He scowled and stood up to rummage through the crate again, this time looking for a blanket to keep the girl warm. Maybe he could use his firebending to warm her up quicker or something, but no matter how he decided to do it, he had to get her warm quickly, otherwise…

Zuko shook his head. There was something wrong with him; there was something _really_ wrong with him. Here he was worrying about a girl that was supposed to be his enemy, and in the back of his mind, though he hated to admit it, he _knew _that he wasn't helping her just because it was the right thing to do.

He exhaled in slight relief when he found a thick blanket in the bottom of the crate (itchy and slightly uncomfortable in his opinion, but it was still a blanket nevertheless). He sat down beside her, heated the blanket up with his hands and quickly draped it over Katara's sleeping form.

He watched her sleep for ten minutes…it may have been half an hour for all he cared, all he knew was that he watched her for some time before yet _another_ set of footsteps began to echo through the dark.

Zuko swore under his breath and blew out the candle hoping that they wouldn't get found as there was no way he'd be able to move freely and quietly while carrying an unconscious Katara.

"Ligh' the candle back up, young 'un, i's safe."

Zuko jumped and looked around in slight confusion. He lit up the flame again and stared at the newcomer. "You again! Agni, you have _got_ to stop doing that! Which one are you?" he asked, rather curtly, "Lan or Li?"

"You're very shrewd, y'know tha'? I'm Lan."

"Oh great," muttered Zuko. "Alright, what is going on? And…what are you doing here?"

Lan blinked. "Sorry?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow and stared at the old man. "What are you doing up here? The Avatar said earlier that you were—"

"Downstairs? Yes I know, I came up here a few minutes ago looking fer you an' the young lady, and look a' tha', 'ere you are," said Lan, grinning once more.

Zuko backed away slightly as the innkeeper sat down. "Wha' happened?" he asked.

"I'll explain later," snapped Zuko. "How did you get up here? Is there some way down to the second floor that we don't know about? And Li told us that you know what the hell is going on around here. Explain. Now."

"Oh, you've me' Li, have ya'?" said Lan, scratching his chin absently, "Well, tha's good, bu' we should wai' til young Katara wakes up before I explain…so ya both know wha's happenin'…so wha' happened?"

Zuko scowled.

_

* * *

Heat…_

Katara groaned and rolled over onto her side. Her head and eyelids felt too heavy for her to lift, and she had a cramp in her neck—it almost hurt to move. She groaned again as she realised how hot the temperature had become. It was much too warm, the air above her seemed hardly breathable and the heat was almost suffocating.

She tried to draw in a deep breath of air, but it turned into a set painful, hacking coughs. Slowly, she sat up, coughing her lungs out, and placed a hand to her chest trying to calm herself down so she could breathe properly again. Her other hand held her up, preventing her from falling back onto the twigs and leaves that littered the…

_Twigs and leaves?_

Katara's eyes shot open at the realisation that she was no longer indoors. She glanced about dazedly, trying to make sense of what was going on.

Zuko was nowhere inside, and instead of being in the dark, cold room she had been in when she fainted, she was outside, sitting on the twig covered ground in a sunnier version of Itara, except what she found oddly strange was that everything had an orangey glow. The place almost looked eerily welcoming.

She looked up and found herself outside of the inn, but instead of looking extremely old and battered like what it had looked like when she, Aang and Sokka first arrived in the old town, it looked newly built.

Strangely enough, however, no matter how welcoming the town looked, the streets were still empty. Cool gusts of air blew leaves and dirt into Katara's face (a relief in from the unbelievably hot temperature from her opinion), her loose hair fluttering back as she squinted about taking in her surroundings.

"Zuko?" she called, her voice echoing through the empty street despite the warm breeze blowing leaves all over the town. "Where are you?"

She got to her feet unsteadily, trembling slightly on the spot for a moment or two before regaining her balance. "Anyone?"

Other than the rustle of leaves and the echo of her voice, Katara heard nothing. She sighed softly and began to walk towards the inn in hopes of finding anyone that might be able to help her…or to explain to her what had happened, whichever came first. But before she even managed to get the door, she heard quiet voices and footsteps, slowly becoming louder and louder until it seemed like the street behind her didn't seem so deserted anymore.

Katara paused and frowned in slight confusion. She spun around and found that the street was no longer quiet and eerie, in fact, now it had people from all three living nations, talking amongst them selves while making their way to the places they needed to be.

Katara stared around at them all, none of the people in the streets taking notice of the random fourteen year-old waterbender, standing confusedly at the front of the inn. There was group of young women, probably no older than Katara herself, chatting to each other as they walked slowly to wherever it was they were going. Several teenaged boys sat laughing amongst themselves on the other side of the street, wolf-whistled at them.

The girls ignored them and continued to walk away ('ignored' was an understatement. Obviously, one of them was ticked and at the sound of the wolf-whistles turned around and hurled what Katara recognised as a water-whip at the boys. The others laughed, and one of the girls' turned towards the shocked and now angry boys and pulled rather a rude hand gesture at them before following the others). Katara wondered vaguely whether she should follow them and ask them if they knew what was going on, and before she had even made up her mind, she found herself running after them.

"Hey! Wait!" she called, running up to and in front of them. "I'm sorry for disturbing you like this but…"

The girls took no notice of her and just walked past her.

Katara frowned. "Hey!" she called again reaching for one of their shoulders. She almost screamed at what happened next. Her hand didn't even _touch _their shoulders, it went right through them and all she felt hit her hand was air.

She yelped and jumped backwards, staring at her hand incredulously and then to the girls who continued to walk slowly but began to fade into nothingness.

Katara backed away even more, shocked beyond all reason before coming to a conclusion that this was all a dream. That was all it was, just a strange dream. She was still in that dark scary room with Zuko, this was just a dream.

But what she heard next made her blood run cold.

There was a scream. A loud, blood-curdling scream of a woman enduring something terrible or witnessing it, and then an old Earth Nation man, possibly about the same age as Zuko's uncle, hobbled into the street.

"Fire Nation Soldiers!" he shouted, silencing the whole street. "Run! Fire Nation Soldiers! They're here! Everyone, run! Hurry! They've already killed—" His eyes widened in shock suddenly. He mouthed something silently, before blood came bubbling out of his mouth and he fell forward, a dagger lodged in his back, dead, before he even hit the ground.

Several people screamed and began to rush forward, and before Katara knew what was happening, the sight before her suddenly blurred and she was swept out of the way of the stampede and found herself standing on the roof of the inn, looking down upon the horrid scene before her.

"You alrigh', miss?"

Katara shrieked in surprise and almost fell off the roof in shock. Li (or maybe it was Lan?) caught her arm before she fell to her death.

"Lan?" she asked, clutching her chest and breathing heavily.

"Li, young 'un," said Li, smiling grimly at her.

"Stop doing that, dammit!" she snapped. "Where am I? This is just a dream, right? Tell me I'm just in a dream!"

Li chuckled. "Aye, yer in a dream, 'cept wha' yer seein' down 'er is wha' 'appened 'ere fifty years ago."

Katara looked down at the chaotic street below and then back Li in utter shock.

Li nodded at her disbelief and said, "See tha' man on the rhino, down 'er?" he pointed at him with an unusually gnarled finger, "He was the general tha' commanded the attack. Still can' remember 'is name, still thinkin' for i', bu' anyway, he and 'is soldiers were merciless as they slaugh'ered everyone."

Katara looked back down at the havoc below and placed a hand to her mouth in shock as one of the soldiers pounded on the door which the boys she had seen earlier were sitting in front of. When no one answered, the soldier kicked it open and no more than a few seconds later, someone came running out, screaming in covered in flames.

Several other men who were trying to fight back were shot to death with arrows coming from behind the general.

Then surprisingly, the girls she had seen had come back, and they were fighting back too. Evidently all of them were benders and they were very skilled as well, but eventually, several armed soldiers cornered them into one of the far corners of the street.

Katara looked away. She couldn't bear to see what happened next, but shielding her eyes from the chaos did nothing to prevent her from hearing the screams of the people below.

"This is all true, miss," said Lan. "I really wish it weren't, but everythin' happenin' here actually happened fifty years ago. If you don' believe me in sayin' tha' ask Lan when you find 'im."

"Li," she said, still not looking back down, "Isn't there something we can do? This is terrible! I can't stand it!"

"I'm sorry, young 'un, bu' this 'appened fifty years ago, I'm afraid there's nothing anyone can do," answered Li, watching the havoc sadly.

"Well is there anyway you can get me out of here?" she asked meekly. She wanted to puke; she could no longer hide from it. She forced herself to look back down at the insanity below and bit her lip helplessly.

"I'm afraid I can', Katara', m'dear," said Li. "Until Zuko can wake you up, yer stuck 'ere."

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Katara, tearing her eyes from the scene below. For about five seconds, she had been watching a mother and her daughter, who looked to be about three years old. The mother pulled her daughter along by the arm before being forced into a wall by two soldiers.

Desperate, the mother fell to her knees embracing her daughter, and from what Katara could see it looked like that she was begging, begging for their lives, or at least her daughter's.

The soldiers laughed and Katara couldn't bear it anymore. She turned away from the sight and faced Li, tears beginning to sting her eyes, for she couldn't help but notice certain similarities between herself and the little girl.

"I'm sorry, Katara," said Li grimly, "bu' I can' 'elp you ou' of 'ere. Zuko, is a' the momen', still looking after you because in the real world, yer still ou' cold, and I'm afraid tha' the only way you can ge' ou' of 'ere is if he manages t' wake you up."

"If?" asked Katara, almost desperately. "There's gotta be some other way to get me back into the real world! I can't stand watching this!"

Li shook his head sadly, and at this Katara looked back down at the street hopelessly, flinching at everything she saw.

"Li please," she said quietly, not looking up seemingly mesmerised by the chaos below, "There must be some way I can get out of here! As much as I hate to admit it, I'd feel better in that dark creepy room with Zuko! Please, there must be some way I can get out of here…"

There was no answer.

"Li?" Katara tore her eyes away from the sight and looked up at Li and found that he'd disappeared. She almost broke into tears when she found herself alone watching the havoc, and in complete and utter despair, she collapsed onto her knees and watched the scene hopelessly.

She watched as another pair of soldiers pounded on the door of the inn, and when no one answered they kicked the door open like they did to the building across the street and two men came stumbling out of the inn; one set alight and screaming, the other with a sword in his side and just as she realised who they were, she felt like she had been lifted off the ground with a sudden jolt.

The scene blurred and swirled out in front of her and once again, she felt short of breath. She couldn't breathe, she felt as if she was drowning and suddenly a different picture put itself in front of her eyes.

The cold, dark room she and Zuko were in unfolded in front of her. She sat up with a jolt, breathing heavily, and causing the heavy blanket Zuko had placed over her to warm her fell to the ground.

Zuko jumped and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Zuko!" she gasped, "Something's not right here! Something's definitely not right! WE have to get out of here as soon as we can because—"

"Katara! Calm down!" said Zuko, trying his best to get her to relax and to stop hyperventilating. "What happened? What are you talking about?"

"Katara m'dear? Are you alrigh'?" said another voice.

Katara inhaled deeply, her hands trembling slightly and she turned to Zuko and gasped, "Zuko, we're in a ghost town; Lan and Li are dead."

**

* * *

Gasp! They're dead!**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	9. The Whole Story

**Hi Guys!**

**Look! I got this finished early! I would've posted earlier but I was busy with homework and getting ready forthe Social and yeah... Anyway, I have a feeling that this isn't one of my best chapters but who gives? **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I write fanfiction—not episode scripts. Therefore, I can't exactly own it, can I?**

**

* * *

The Whole Story **

Zuko blinked and stared at the girl disbelievingly. Whatever she had just said to him made no sense to him whatsoever. Lan and Li couldn't be dead, as Lan was right there sitting across from him! It wasn't possible. There was no way it was possible, and since Katara had passed out only moments before, Zuko came to only one conclusion.

He turned to the innkeeper. "She's delusional, d'ya have any water? I think that might help."

"I am _not_ delusional!" snapped Katara, trying to get to her feet. Zuko gripped her arm tightly and glared at her. "Zuko let me go! I am not delusional! It's true! When Li said that no one survived the massacre, he meant it! No one did! Not even them!" she pointed accusingly and fearfully at Lan and shuffled backwards into the crate.

"Katara, calm down!" hissed Zuko grabbing both her shoulders and shaking her slightly. "Have you gone insane? What the hell are you talking about?"

"What part of 'they're dead' do you not comprehend?" she snapped. "He's not alive, dammit! We're stuck in here until sunrise with a bunch of ghosts that are probably trying to kill us!"

"Well…no' all o' us wan' t' kill you…"

Zuko blinked and turned around to face Lan. His wrinkled face looked incredibly ghostly with only the flickering flame of the candle as light. The large bags under his eyes made Zuko want to recoil slightly as he sat cross-legged on the dusty wooden floor.

"What?" he asked, glaring at the old man.

"Katara's righ', I'm afraid, bu' no' all o' us wan' t' kill ya…" said Lan, looking down sadly. "Bu' if Li or myself had told you earlier, you would've lef',"

Both teenagers glared at him. Zuko's hands hadn't left Katara's shoulders and he tightened his grip on her shoulders unknowingly. Katara didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't care at that moment.

"She's…? You're actually…?" Zuko looked from him to Katara and back again, and finally, he was able to utter the words, "You're _dead_?"

Lan nodded grimly.

"And you conveniently forgot to tell us?" snapped Katara, her gaze icy and her tone cold.

Lan sighed. "I apologise for the shock young 'uns, but please, le' me explain t' you…"

"Explain what?" snarled Zuko. "Why you 'forgot' to tell us that you were all dead? What else haven't you told us?"

"Le' me explain, please," said Lan, twiddling his thumbs sadly. "If you wan' t' ge' ou' of 'ere, you may as well."

Katara continued to glare at him for several moments longer but her gaze softened slightly. "Explain," she said curtly. "_Everything_."

Lan looked up and gave her a small smile. "Thank you…" he said quietly. "Where t' begin…" he paused for a moment or two.

Katara brushed Zuko's hands off her shoulders and sat down cross-legged across from the old man waiting expectantly for the full explanation, and scowling, Zuko did the same.

"Wha' did my brother tell you?" asked Lan finally after a few moments of silence.

"Just how the Fire Nation massacred everyone in this village including the both of you about fifty years ago," said Zuko coldly.

"Ah, righ'," said Lan. "Would you like me t' explain why I'm still 'ere firs' or would you like t' know abou' the Spiri's?"

Katara frowned. "The what?"

"I'll star' there, shall I?" asked Lan. The two teenagers said nothing and waited expectantly. Lan cleared his throat quickly and began, "Righ' well, Li said everyone was killed, correct?"

"Get on with it," snapped Zuko.

Lan ignored him. "This village," he began, shifting into a more comfortable position, "this tiny, insignifican' village, as some may say, 'as been emp'y fer years; ever since the massacre, not a single livin' person 'as se' foo' in i'. You and yer friends—" he nodded at the both of them as Zuko snorted.

Lan rolled his eyes. "Le' me rephrase tha': you—" he nodded at Katara, "and yer friends and…well… 'im—" he jerked his head in Zuko's direction, "'ave been the firs' ones t' walk into this place since tha' 'orrible, _'orrible _day. Funnily enough, i's been exactly fif'y years since then, bu' tha's beside the poin'—nothin' 'appens on the anniversary, jus' the same old, same old.

"Any'ow, ever since the Itara Massacre, as i's known by nearby villages, this town 'as been an empty, lifeless, ghos' town—literally; every nigh' for fif'y years, each an' every buildin' in this village 'as been 'aunted by every single person killed tha' day. Every single one. Yer lucky you came into this inn and no' any other buildin', take my word fer tha'. The masked thin's tha' are tryin' t' kill ya are Spiri's tha' jus' wan' t' crossover. Like us, fer instance, bu' we aren' tryin t' kill ya—we jus' wan' ya t' 'elp us."

"We have to _help _you now?" asked Katara incredulously.

"We jus' wanna ge' ou' of this wretched place!" said Lan exasperatedly. "'onestly, you two…no four, are the firs' livin' things tha' 'ave the minds t' 'elp! For fif'y years we've been wanderin' around jus'…wai'in fer _someone _t' come and 'elp ou'! Now d'ya wanna 'ear the res' o' the story or no'?"

Zuko sighed huffily. "Carry on," he said almost uninterestedly. "Just ignore everything she says, she never shuts up."

"HEY!"

"Ahem…Movin' along," said Lan, sensing a fight beginning to brew between the two teenagers. "The Spiri's are masked because they held ou' the longest, even though they suffered the most injuries. There're eigh' of 'em, two wit' blue masks, two wit' red, two wit' green and two wit' yellow. I think…tha' two of 'em were Fire Nation Soldiers, four of them are the girls tha' fough' so well only t' be cornered by the general and 'is idio's and the other two are the founders…and…yeah, I think they are…they're all in this buildin' at the momen',"

Zuko snarled. "Why _this _building?"

"Because i's the one yer in," said Lan as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They're all lookin' fer you a' the momen'—you in particular Katara, m'dear."

"Oh. Great," said Katara sarcastically. "This is awesome. This is _just _awesome…why _me, _dammit? Why not Aang? He's the bloody, stupid Avatar! Why _me_?"

Zuko rolled his eyes at her. "Girl, the Avatar has me, and my evil sister after him and possibly quite a few other people trying to capture him and turn him in. You're supposed to be _helping_ him, and yet you want him to be chased by a bunch of ghosts that want to kill us all. What is _wrong _with you?"

"They're Spirits!" spat Katara. "He's the bridge between the Spirit World and this world, it's an entirely different perspective!"

"…no it's not," said Zuko, frowning.

Katara glared at him. "Just…shut up…"

Zuko smirked. "She's right, though," he said after a moment, "why _her_? She's a hardly a threat to anyone."

"Didn't I just ask you to shut up?" snapped Katara, crossing her arms in front of her and moving to lean on the crate again.

Lan watched almost amusedly as the two continued to argue, not bothering try and shut them up, probably because he knew it was futile unless they stopped of their own accord.

"Peasant, you have no right to tell me what to do."

"You know, you may be the Prince of the Fire Nation, but I'm not a Fire Nation citizen, therefore, you have no control over me whatsoever and I have as much right to tell you what to do as much as you do me."

Zuko snarled and ground his teeth just as Lan decided that they had bickered enough.

"The both o' you," he said trying to stop himself from smiling, "shush so I can answer yer questions…you wanted t' know why they're after you, Katara?"

Katara scowled but gave a curt nod.

"You see m'dear, you look strikin'ly like one of the villagers tha' used t' live 'ere fif'y years ago. She was a li'l bi' older than yerself, but you still 'ave a strikin' resemblance to 'er…come t' think of i'…wai' no, you can' be rela'ed to 'er, she was from the Fire Nation, bu' nevertheless, you still look so much like 'er. She was very much like a niece t' me, an' like the younger sis'er Li an' I ne'er 'ad…

"Any'ow, the Spiri's are after you because you look so much like 'er tha' they're wondering how i' is tha' yer still alive and well and _free _from _this_ place and they're not. I' seems almos' unfair t' them, y'know?"

"No, dammit, I _don't_ know!" she snapped. "_How_ is it unfair to them? I haven't done anything to them, why try to kill me?"

Lan sighed. "Look a' i' this way: imagine yer a wanderin' Spiri' tha' can' cross over. Everyone 'as been killed and suddenly the firs' livin' person you _do_ see looks exactly like a girl tha' you _know _'as been killed. 'ow would you feel?"

Katara stared at him. "I-I'd be confused and wondering why they're alive and I'm stuck dead and unable to cross over."

"_Exactly_."

"Still though," said Katara, "if they want me dead, how come I'm not dead yet?"

"I's not jus' you, Katara m'dear, they want _all _of you dead. Yer no' dead because they 'aven' 'ad the chance t' kill you—in fac', if you 'adn't screamed, Katara, you'd all be one o' us already…well would'ya look a' tha'? Another reason they're annoyed a' you! Look see, there's more than one reason, y'know."

Katara clicked her tongue and glared at him. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that last part," she said heatedly.

"Why are you still here, then?" asked Zuko. "Why haven't you crossed over?"

Lan grinned slightly. "Now tha' par' I know very well," he said. "By the way, Katara, they think tha' i's yer fault we're all stuck 'ere too."

Katara scowled.

"Li probably told you tha' the General took no prisoners, am I correct?"

Both teenagers nodded.

"Well he wasn' entirely wrong, bu' the General did take _one _prisoner. _Only_ one prisoner, and he did so because he though' tha' she would be 'elpful to 'im, in more than jus' one way. They stayed the nigh' 'ere in Itara, you see, and as this town 'ad no prison or anythin', 'e chucked the poor girl into the cellar of this very inn.

"La'er on tha' nigh', 'e sen' fer her t' come and see 'im. 'e tried t' interrogate 'er abou' the whereabou's of the Avatar—"

"Surprise, surprise…" muttered Katara, rolling her eyes. Lan shot her a stern glance, and Katara muttered a small apology before he continued.

"Any'ow, 'e tried t' interrogate 'er abou' the whereabou's of the Avatar, and like everyone else, she didn' tell 'im anythin'. Partly because even though she was a Fire Nation citizen 'erself, she wan'ed the war t' end, by 'elpin' the Avatar, and because she didn' know wha' 'appened to 'im anyway.

"So the general threatened 'er, tellin' 'er tha' if she didn' tell 'im where 'e was, 'e'd take 'er agains' 'er will. Typically, she said she'd rather die than betray the Avatar. The general asked 'er 'ow she could betray 'er own country, and she replied, if I can remember 'er words correctly…'How can I betray my own country if I refuse to belong to it? Do what you wish to me for betraying the Fire Nation, but I will _never _betray the Avatar,'

"Som'in like tha' anyway. The general, to prove 'e would do wha'ever i' took t' find the Avatar, actually _did_ take 'er agains' 'er will, but even then, she wouldn' tell 'im anythin'. The idio' even tried t' bea' the information ou' of the poor girl, bu' she still didn' tell 'im anythin' (mind you, this all 'appened on the same nigh') and finally some few hours before daybreak, 'e decided t' kill 'er.

"Wha' the general didn' know was tha' this girl tha' e' raped, brutalised and killed was…would you say a gypsy? Similar of the sor' or som'in like tha' but she knew alo' abou' magic and stuffs and I dunno, she literally cursed this place—anyone who'd died in it stayed in it.

"The bi' tha' baffles me, however, is 'ow the general died. Never found ou' 'ow 'e died, 'e jus' did, on the same nigh' jus' before daybreak. You understand why we're stuck 'ere now? The entire village and anyone else tha' died 'ere are stuck 'ere because the only way t' make the Fire Nation Soldiers pay for wha' they've done is by cursin' them like this, at the cos' of everyone else who wan'ed jus' as much revenge. You understand?"

The two teenagers nodded again at loss of words. Lan scratched his chin absently in the silence until Katara spoke up.

"Lan, this girl…she was the girl who looked like me, wasn't she? That's why the 'Spirits' don't like me so much."

Lan nodded. "I knew 'er very well, m'dear, she was so much like you…I don' understand wha' 'appened to 'er after she cursed the place though…she jus' disappeared. I know fer a fact tha' she didn' cross over…bu' I've never seen 'er around since…"

Zuko scoffed. "Maybe it's because you're all dead."

"Watch it, boy," snapped Lan, "I'm dead and you can see me, can' ya?"

The young man scowled in reply. "How do you know all this?" he asked.

Katara looked up at him. "Yeah Lan, how do you know all this? You died before that girl—"

"Maia," interrupted Lan. "Her name was Maia."

"Yeah, her, you died before her, didn't you?"

Lan shrugged. "Bein' 'er trusted friend when she firs' came t' the village, I dunno, I guess she passed the information on t' me 'cos she fel' like i', I wouldn' know, so don' ask me."

There was a pause before Katara spoke up again. "You said earlier that you wanted us to help you…how?"

The innkeeper looked up at the both of them and gave them a small smile. "Simple really: find the pendan' tha' Maia wore on 'er necklace the very nigh' she was killed, and bury i' in the village cemetery."

"That's it?"

Lan chuckled. "You wish. You have t' convince the Spirits that you aren' Maia, which could prove t' be a very tough job."

Katara frowned. "_You're_ a spirit, though, aren't you?"

Lan chuckled again. "Yes an' no. I'm a spiri' but I'm no' one of the eigh' 'Spiri's' tha' don' like you. Any'ow there is one way I know tha' migh' 'elp you convince them tha' yer no' Maia."

"What's that?"

"You'll need this." Lan smiled at her before he reached behind him and pulled out—

"My water skin!" Katara grinned at him as he threw it to her. It was considerably heavier than when she last checked it, and Lan answered her question before she even opened her mouth.

"I took the liber'y o' fillin i' up fer you."

Katara's grin widened slightly. "Thanks!"

Lan smiled at her again before turning to Zuko. "You," he said, his gaze stern as he faced Zuko. "Yer job is t' look after _'er_," he jabbed a gnarled thumb in Katara's direction, "'til she can wa'erbend again. She looks fine now, I know, i's amazing 'ow quickly she recovered, but she won' be able t' wa'erbend for at leas' one more hour, alrigh'?

Zuko scowled but nodded.

"Bes' be off then," said Lan at last.

"Hang on," said Katara suddenly, "How are we supposed to get out of here? Li said the doors won't open again until sunrise."

Lan grinned at them both. "You'll figure i' ou',"

Zuko glared at him. "Not helpful. And what does Maia's or whatever her name's pendant look like?"

"Eh? Maia's pendant? I' feels like 'er necklace," he pointed at Katara's necklace. "excep' i's red and in the shape of a flame…and before you ask, you can ge' back down stairs by followin' wha's lef' of everyone." He gave them a short wave and a smile before he took up the lantern, turned around, and left the two teenagers sitting bewildered in the dark.

The two sat in silence for a few moments before Zuko got to his feet again. "Time to go," he said with a slight exasperated sigh.

Katara grumbled under her breath but she stood up too, and it took the two teens a full two minutes to realise what Lan had said about getting back onto the second floor.

"Follow what's left of everyone?"

**

* * *

What _does_ Lan mean? Will Katara and Zuko be able to find Maia's pendant? The title says 'The Whole Story' but there's so much more coming your way. **

**R'n'R**

**JJ**

**P.S. D'you reckon that this chapter is weird? Be brutally honest guys.**


	10. Beneath the Tavern

**Hey Guys!**

**Bring on Term Break! Woohoo! Anyhow, here's your next chapter. Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: Roses are red  
Violets are blue  
I don't Avatar  
Mike and Brian do (That is such a let down compared to the other poems I wrote this week)**

**

* * *

Beneath the Tavern**

The two teenagers stared at each other for a moment over the dim light of the candle resting in the candle stand on the floor below them, both trying to figure out what the old man…ghost…meant by 'what's left of everyone'. Surely he didn't mean _literally_…

"What do you think he meant?"

Zuko rolled his eyes and shrugged before looking back up at Katara's tired and shadowed face. "Maybe he meant metaphorically or something? He can't possibly mean literally, there's _no way _he means literally…"

"I dunno, Lan and Li are pretty weird guys…" Katara paused for a moment before correcting herself. "Ghosts, I mean…" she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders before replacing the lid on the crate and sitting back down on top of it. "So," she said with a slight sigh, "what do we do now?"

Zuko shrugged again and sat down next to her, shoulders hunched wearily yet still thinking hard for any idea that might come to him. He sighed unenergetically, burying his face in his hands.

Being on the run, he hadn't had a decent night's sleep since his ship had been destroyed, and now his lack of sleep was slowly starting to become a factor in the way he thought and acted.

"Maybe we should start off by looking for Maia's pendant or something," he murmured, barely loud enough for Katara to hear him, and with weariness seeping into his tone of voice.

Katara frowned. "Zuko, are you okay?" she asked placing a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged off her hand almost in irritation. "I'm fine," he said, his head snapping up. "I'm just tired."

Katara ignored his sudden outburst and tilted her head to the side in slight curiosity. "Zuko," she began, examining the look on his face even though he wasn't looking at her, "when was the last time you had something to drink?"

"You know, I would hope that you're not worried or anything because then I'd be _very _disturbed…"

She glared at him. "I'm not worried," she snapped, "I'm concerned, there's a difference, and as I'm a healer that's only natural. Now tell me, when was the last time you had a drink?"

Zuko scowled. "I dunno," he grumbled, "yesterday maybe?"

"You don't _know _when you last had a drink?"

Zuko stood up suddenly and glared at her. "Woman, I don't live on a ship anymore and I'm on the run from my evil sister and from every other Fire Nation soldier out there, it's not exactly that _easy _to keep track of time and keep hydrated."

Considering the fact that Katara had recovered from her unconscious state only moments before, she was reasonably fast to get back onto her feet. At Zuko's last statement, she stood up so suddenly that Zuko almost had to jump backwards so she wouldn't bump into him.

"Hey!" she snapped, "Just in case you've forgotten, I'm—I mean _we're _in the same situation remember? We've got the same people on our tails _plus _you! If we can keep hydrated and track of time, surely _you _can too, now quit being such an arrogant jerk!"

"Me? An arrogant jerk? Well that's the perfect way to thank me for saving your life more than once in one night! Watch your mouth peasant!"

"Dammit, Zuko, you're such….argh! You're such a pain!" Katara ground her teeth and ran her hands through her loose hair in irritation. She sighed indignantly and sat back down again muttering incoherent insults under her breath; all of them aimed at Zuko, but after a moment, she looked up at Zuko again. She sighed once more and to Zuko's surprise, removed her water skin and tossed it at him.

"Have a drink, Zuko," she said quietly, looking away again. "I'm not the type of girl who gives in like that that easily, but fighting isn't going to get us anywhere and as much as I hate to say it, you're right: you've saved my life more than once tonight already…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

Zuko scoffed. "And…?" he prompted.

Katara scowled at him (Zuko could almost swear that her scowl was just a playful one, but he decided that the playfulness that he thought he saw in it was just his imagination). "Don't push it," she muttered.

Zuko smirked and sat back down next to her, uncapping her water skin and pouring a small amount of water into his mouth, careful not to touch the opening. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve when he was done and handed it to Katara, muttering a small thank you under his breath.

Katara nodded, acknowledging his gratitude before taking a sip of water herself and replacing the lid. They sat together in silence again for a few moments before Katara leant over to pick up the candle and stood up facing Zuko.

"We should go," she said softly, slinging her water skin over her back again and flicking her hair out of her face.

Zuko sighed and got to his feet. "Let's."

* * *

Sokka snarled as he tried to open the trapdoor for the hundredth time that night. Two, maybe three hours, he had been stuck in the tavern with no way to the rooms above him and no way out of the building and he _still _had no idea what was going on, much less what was happening with the Avatar and his sister.

With a huge effort, he pushed up on the trapdoor trying with all his might to get it open, but it didn't budge as he had expected.

"How did I know?" he hissed sarcastically, running a palm over his face in frustration. He ground his teeth and dumped himself into the nearest chair sighing huffily in such a hopeless situation. He leant grumpily on his arms, giving up and hoping that maybe if he just waited, something would happen.

'Green Depression' had disappeared again. Where he or she went, Sokka didn't know, but he wasn't complaining.

He sighed dejectedly and stood up, climbing over the top of the counter to examine the things behind it for the umpteenth time that night. He landed rather clumsily on the floor on the other side, landing on his side due to his lack of food and sleep (for Sokka, lack of any one of these things was a bad thing—lack of both of them was even worse), but this time, he noticed something else.

There was a rug on the other side of the counter for reasons unknown to him. Sokka couldn't really see what it was for but that was beside the point. There was the small _thunk _that metal made when it hit wood and the thump that had resounded when Sokka hit the floor didn't sound very _solid_. It sounded more like that there was something _underneath _the floor…

Frowning, Sokka folded the rug back out of both curiosity and desperation to get somewhere, and felt a grim smirk come to his face as he found another trapdoor, this one probably leading to a cellar or something.

He dusted the edges of the door and blew on the sand-like substance that was scattered all over it. He shrugged. _Eh, couldn't hurt to try opening the thing, it's not like this situation can get any worse_…

Tentatively, Sokka took hold of the ring on the trapdoor and pulled open with a great heave. It opened with a loud creak, and the rest of the random sand-like stuff on it slid off of it like it was something being pulled out of loose, dry sand.

Sokka stared down at the dark, dreary hole, squinting to see if there was anything down there, but really all he could see were the first few stone steps leading into the dark and seemingly empty basement. He tilted his head to one side in curiosity.

He cursed himself silently in slight irritation, telling himself again and again that he wouldn't go down there, but it wasn't long before curiosity got the better of him. _To hell with it, _he thought, _wouldn't hurt to have a look…_

Sokka looked up again and caught sight of one of the eight torches that kept the tavern alight. He stood up and approached the nearest one, taking it out of its torch bracket and then making his way back to the trapdoor. He took one last glance around the room before stepping onto the first stone step and making his way down into the dark, and finally, after what seemed like half an hour, he made it down to the bottom of the cellar.

The ground under his feet was earthy, he could tell that easily even though he could barely see the ground, but it crunched under his feet like gravel. The room was unbelievably dark even with the torch in his hand and there was a strange musty smell which smelt oddly familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place what it was.

He looked back up at the trapdoor before staring pointlessly around the dark room again.

"Hello?" he called, his voice echoing loudly off whatever objects lay in the dark. "Anyone down here?"

There was a faint yelp followed by a crash from above him coming from the tavern above and then—

"Sokka? Katara? Zuko? Anyone around down here?"

Was that _Aang's _voice?

"Aang! Is that you?"

"Sokka? Where are you?"

Sokka almost whooped jubilantly when he heard Aang's voice, and without thinking, he hurried up the steep stone steps towards the trapdoor again, missing two steps at a time as he leapt up the stairs in a mad rush to see his friend.

"Aang!" he gasped when he finally reached the top of the stairs. He beamed at the young Avatar who stared at him in confusion. "Do you have any idea how glad I am to see you?" He noted dimly that the trapdoor he had been trying to force his way through had collapsed—it was open, but there was nothing leading up to it.

"Sokka?" said Aang backing away slightly eyeing the burning torch still in Sokka's hand, "Are you okay? You seem a little…_nutty_."

Sokka frowned at him. "Nutty? I'm just glad I'm not a loner anymore! It's been what? Two? Three hours and I've been stuck down here alone for that long trying to find some way—any way to get out of here and find you guys! It's been driving me nuts!"

Aang raised an eyebrow at him. "I think you _have _gone nuts, Sokka…"

Sokka scoffed. "Whatever," he said quickly, "What happened? I see the door's busted." He pointed at the pile of wood that would have been the trapdoor had it stayed in its original position.

Aang shrugged. "I dunno, I was just jumping on it about two seconds ago trying to get it open and then it just collapsed, resulting in…" Aang looked around him as he trailed off. "What happened _here? _Why'd you trash the place?"

"I didn't trash the place! 'Green Depression' did!"

Aang raised an eyebrow. "'Green Depression?' Oh gods, you _have _gone nuts!"

Sokka ran a palm over his face in annoyance. "I have not gone nuts! You know the masked…things that were trying to kill us? The one with a sad green mask is 'Green Depression' alright? Moving along, where's Katara? Is she okay?"

Aang shrugged his shoulders. "She was fine when I last spoke to her…"

"When was that?" asked Sokka, frowning.

"Eh…" Aang thought for a few moments. "About…an hour and a half ago? She's stuck on the third floor with Zuko but—"

"With Zuko!" snapped Sokka. It was funny how the two words 'with Zuko' made him explode, nevertheless, Aang slapped a hand to his forehead thinking he should have known better than tell Sokka that his sister was with the Fire Prince.

"Darn it!" he muttered. "Sokka, relax!" he said trying to calm the fuming boy down. "She's fine! Zuko swore on his honour that he would lay off for the night, alright? Relax!"

"Relax?" roared Sokka. "My sister is with the idiot who's trying to kill us! You think I can relax?"

"Sokka, she's fine! She can take care of herself and it's not like Zuko's using her as bait or anything! Calm down!"

Sokka ground his teeth and glared at him. "Aang you may be the Avatar, but if my sister _isn't_ fine when we find her, there's nothing you can do to stop from attacking Zuko, so don't try, got it?"

"Loud and clear, Sokka," said Aang, "but really, she's _fine_, don't worry so much."

Sokka scowled but nodded. "So," he grumbled, "what's going on, did you find out anything?"

Aang nodded. "Katara told me what she knew: Lan has a twin named Li, and we have to find—"

"Lan has a twin?"

"Yep, Li told Katara who told me that this entire village was massacred fifty years ago by the Fire Nation, and that if wanna find out the rest of the story, we have to find Lan. She also said that Li said that the tavern door's locked and it won't budge again until sunrise."

"I figured, Aang," snapped Sokka. "Anything else?"

Aang shook his head and caught sight of the trapdoor that Sokka had discovered. "Another one?" he asked, pointing to it, "Where does this one go?"

"To the cellar," answered Sokka with a shrug. "It stinks down there, but it smells oddly familiar, any who, I went down there before you came down and I didn't find anything."

Aang frowned slightly and looked down the dreary hole. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his head that he had seen or been in a similar place before but he couldn't quite place a finger on it. It felt strange…

"Can we have a look?"

Sokka shrugged again. "You're the Avatar, I found nothing last time, wouldn't hurt to check again."

Aang nodded, took the torch from Sokka and slowly made his way down the stone steps. Sokka followed him, scrunching his nose at the smell diffusing from the darkness.

"This situation gets weirder and weirder every minute," said Aang staring around in the dark.

"You're telling me…" muttered Sokka. "I think we should get out of here now…"

"Why? What now?"

"'Green Depression's' back…"

"What?" Aang spun around and looked up at the trapdoor and found the green masked figure was in fact back. He or she…it gave them a look of pure loathing. Both boys started forwards, but before they had even taken two steps, 'Green Depression' slammed the trapdoor shut and it was obvious that some one in this town didn't like them very much.

"We're stuck down here, aren't we Aang?"

"My bad…"

* * *

"Has it been half an hour yet?" Katara stifled a tired yawn while crawling around on the floor looking for anything that might be Maia's pendant. It had been what felt like hours since they started looking, and still they couldn't find it.

"Why do you keep asking that?"

Katara straightened up leaning on her heels and looked up at Zuko who was searching for Maia's pendant not too far away from her. "I wanna get rid of this stupid cut, it's bugging me."

Zuko snorted. "You're gonna have to deal with it for another twenty minutes."

"How would you know that?"

"I don't. I'm just answering for the sake of answering."

Katara stared at him for a moment not daring to believe that he had just made a joke. She shrugged after a minute or two. "Didn't see that coming," she muttered. And that was when she realised.

"Found it!" she called, slapping her forehead.

"Where?"

"In my pocket…"

There was an awkward pause between the two teenagers but after a moment Zuko spoke up again. "You're telling me that we spent the last few minutes or however long it's been looking for a pendant that turned out to be in your pocket?"

"Well I only just realised now!" whined Katara, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the red stone in the shape of a flame.

Zuko scowled. "You are such a useless wench," he snapped grasping her upper arm and pulling her into a standing position.

"Lack of sleep," she hissed, leaning over to pick up the candle in its stand. "We can get out of here now."

"How?"

Katara shrugged. "By doing what Lan said? He said to follow what's left of everyone right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well let's just follow everyone's stuff and see where that gets us."

Zuko rolled his eyes at her. Katara glared back at him.

"It's just a thought," she said. "I mean, come on, 'what's left of everyone' could mean their stuff that's been scattered all over the place."

"Or it could mean something else," grumbled Zuko.

"Yeah, like let's dig up someone's remains and see if it gets us anywhere," snapped Katara, folding her arms across her chest. "Quit being so stubborn Zuko, let's get going already." Without another word, she turned away from him and started off in the opposite direction.

Zuko scowled and pulled her back. "We came from that way," he said quietly, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "Let's go."

**

* * *

Don't you feel sorry for Sokka and Aang?**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	11. The 'Spirits'

**Hey Guys! **

Here is your next chapter—expect it to be strange and weird and odd because it's an action chapter and as everyone knows, my action scenes suck. Hopefully you'll still enjoy it though! Special thanks to Sweetstories11 for her ten consecutve reviews!

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it, never will (Random thought: do you reckon the creators read fanfiction? It'd be funny if they did…)**

**

* * *

The Spirits**

Ten minutes passed like hours as Katara and Zuko trudged quietly across the dark…attic following the random objects that were littered all over the wooden floor, not sure if they were even going the right way. They ignored the sound of creaking floorboards and the fading sound of rain hammering upon windows but for no matter how long it seemed like they didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

It wasn't long before Zuko sighed heavily and came to a halt. "This hopeless," he snapped. "We're not going anywhere—for all we know we could be going around in circles!"

Katara turned to face him raising her candle a little higher so she could see him properly. "Do you have any other plan, then?" she asked, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "It's not like we have any other choice—there's nothing else we can do."

"Of course there is!" said Zuko indignantly. "Why can't we just wait until morning?"

The girl raised an eyebrow at him. "Wait until morning?" she repeated almost disbelieving. "The great Prince Zuko has just suggested that we give up on helping the souls of those trapped here and just sit down and _give up_? Have you gone insane?"

"Not like that!" snapped Zuko exasperatedly. "It's not like I want to give up, it's just…" he trailed off and ran a hand through his now short and scruffy hair in irritation. "It's just…"

"Well, Zuko? What _were_ you suggesting?" asked Katara, tapping her foot lightly on the wood.

"Katara, come on! Whoever said we even needed to help these people? We have no business meddling in whatever's keeping them here!"

"Uh, yeah we do," said Katara as if what he had just said was the stupidest thing to say. She took off her water skin again, uncapped it and took a small sip out of it. "For one thing," she said, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. "Your country killed them all mercilessly, that's gotta count for something, don't you think? And we're here now anyway, we may as well."

Without another word, she turned on her heel and began to walk forward again. Zuko gaped after her incredulously. "Katara! You've gotta be kidding me! We can't…argh!" He kicked at the nearest object in frustration, but it wasn't exactly the wisest thing to do.

As it turned out, the thing that he kicked was a jade comb, about the size of his fist, and it clattered loudly across the wooden floorboards and collided into a pile of rusted weapons from the Earth Nation. With an ear-splitting crash, the entire pile collapsed.

Katara spun around, her water skin still in her hand, and glared at him, completely oblivious to the silent chain reaction taking place behind her. Two of the spears in the pile had fallen over, knocking a large and heavy metal ball out of its place on top of a crate. It rolled across the tops of the crates along a metal rod but once it ran out of rod, rolled off the crates and landed with a loud _THUD _a mere few inches away from Katara's right foot.

"What the—? What did you do?"

"Nothing! I just—"

_CRACK!_

"What was that?"

The two silenced themselves immediately and strained their ears for any other sound that may give away another's presence in the darkness. They stood quietly for a few moments, not daring to move or breathe, but they heard nothing.

"Let's go," whispered Katara. "I think whatever made that crack's gone now…"

Zuko released a quiet sigh of relief and began to walk forward, flinching at the loud creak that sounded as he lay his weight on the foot he had stepped forward with. There was another loud crack and the next thing he knew, the wooden floor they were standing on collapsed.

With a yelp, he and Katara fell quickly through the air landing rather painfully on the wooden floor of the second level. Katara landed heavily on her back and Zuko landed with an "Oof!" on top of her.

As it turned out, the wood that they had been standing on wasn't that strong, and neither were the rafters. The sudden amount of weight laid upon it caused the rafter beneath to break and the wood, weak enough as it was, collapsed when Zuko added his weight to it.

Just looking around the slightest bit, Zuko could tell that they had fallen into one of the unoccupied rooms.

Katara groaned inwardly and pushed Zuko upwards trying to ignore the fact that their faces were only a few centimetres apart. "Get off of me," she grumbled, pushing at his shoulders.

Zuko smirked. "Oh, this position annoys you?"

"Zuko, get off!"

"Hey, you annoy me just by existing, even more that you're helping the Avatar and even more than that that you're stuck with me—it's only fair I annoy you back."

"Zuko!" she yelled, beating at his shoulders with her fists. "This is no time to joke around! _Get off of me!_"

"Why should I listen to you?" Zuko sneered, loving the fact that he could make her squirm like this. "Prince, remember?"

"Dammit, Spirits!"

"What? Have you run out of insults already?" he asked, his smirk becoming wider.

"No, you idiot!" snapped Katara. She pointed at the doorway fearfully. "_Spirits_!"

Zuko frowned and looked up in confusion. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the Spirits standing in the doorway, almost as if they were laughing at their position. He allowed himself to be pushed off of her and he scrambled quickly to his feet. He counted their masks quickly and counted exactly—

"Seven? Oh, shi—"

"Zuko! Hold them off!"

Zuko snarled and raised a wall of fire as Katara scrambled about the room trying to find her water skin and making sure that she hadn't lost Maia's pendant. She clambered quickly to her feet, slinging her water skin back over her back and hastily readied herself in her fighting stance.

"Can you bend yet?" asked Zuko, doing his best to keep the fire wall up.

"I dunno, but it wouldn't hurt to try would it?"

"Yes!" snapped Zuko, exasperatedly. "Yes it would, you idiot! If you can't bend, how're you supposed to defend yourself if I get knocked out?"

Katara shrugged. "Oh well!" she hissed. "Hopefully I _can_ bend by now, let the fire wall down!"

"Are you insane? Try, quickly! Heal yourself!"

The girl scowled but uncapped her water skin and tried to bend a stream of water into the watery blue glove that she used when healing. She was able to, luckily, but it took up a fair amount of energy. She exhaled deeply before placing her hand to her neck. She sighed when she felt the cool, calming sensation of water against her skin, and closed her eyes in concentration and before she knew it, she felt the cut slowly begin to disappear.

Zuko watched her, and after a moment or two, she opened her eyes and nodded at him, but he frowned at her. He noticed how much energy it took just for her to heal herself as she was still a little weak and he shook his head.

"Screw it, you're not fighting," said Zuko.

"What? Why?"

"You're still weak."

Katara scowled. "Why do you care so much, Zuko? I'm _fine_, dammit!"

Zuko opened his mouth to answer just as the blade of a broadsword swung at his waist through the flames.

"What the—?" He jumped backwards out of shock, accidentally letting the wall of flames down and he found himself face to face with his alter ego: the Blue Spirit.

Zuko grimaced and ducked as it swung the broadswords at his head. Doing the first thing that came to his mind, he aimed several streams of flames at the Spirits' feet. Three of them stumbled backwards into one of the other vacant rooms and two staggered back into the narrow hallway colliding roughly into the walls. The other two, the ones with red masks, simply dodged Zuko's blow and leapt towards them.

They glared at him before the two aimed a punch at him in exact unison. Zuko spun out of the way only to receive a strong and violent kick in the stomach, completely winding him and throwing him to the other side of the room where he crashed into the opposite wall and fell painfully to the ground.

He heard Katara call his name in concern (_more than just concern_, said a voice in the back of Zuko's mind) and then her footsteps rushing towards him, but they stopped before she was able to help him up.

Zuko groaned and clutched his stomach, coughing uncontrollably for several moments before he squinted upwards to see what was happening around him. He saw Katara standing in front of him and defending him and herself from the Spirits as best as she could, but he could tell that she was tiring quickly.

Summoning as much energy as he could, Zuko seized a heavy black blanket that lay not too far away from him in one of the corners of the room and scrambled to his feet. He placed an arm around Katara's neck and spun them both around so that their backs were facing the Spirits and threw the blanket over himself and the girl just as the closest red masked one thrust his wrist out, hurling a huge jet of flames towards them both.

Katara whimpered as the heat of the flames overwhelmed the two of them, and for some strange reason (Katara didn't bother to even _wonder_ why), Zuko's embrace around her shoulders and back tightened as if to determined to make sure she didn't get hurt. She heard him snarl in frustration (or was it pain?) and then as quickly as they came, the flames stopped.

Zuko released his grip on her shoulders, threw the smoking blanket back into its corner and stepped in front of her and in one swift motion, shifted his weight onto his forward foot and leapt forward aiming several blows of flames at the two Spirits, but they simply punched the flaming balls away.

Zuko ground his teeth in irritation, but before he even knew what was happening, Katara had stepped out from behind him and spilt almost half the water in her water skin onto the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?" he barked as she stepped forward.

Katara didn't hear him—or if she did, she wasn't listening. She raised her arms and then pushed them out forward, creating a small wave of water big enough to cover both Spirits' feet and then froze them to the floor. She exhaled shakily and bent a stream of water towards them, soaking their gloved hands and then freezing them solid.

She swayed slightly on the spot for a second and placed a hand to her head as small ripple of dizziness washed over her, but before she got the chance to recover completely, Zuko grasped her wrist and ran past the two Spirits and out of the room, only to come face to face with yet another two Spirits, this time both wearing blue masks.

"_Dammit_," muttered Zuko, and quickly, he jumped forward and kicked a strong spurt of flames at them. One stumbled backwards and fell down the hole where the trapdoor leading to the tavern used to be, but the other one split the flames with its broadsword.

It leapt at Zuko, sword raised and ready to swipe at him, but he dodged it and gave it a fiery punch in the stomach.

Katara, in the meantime, caught sight of the Spirits that had crashed into the other room as one of them began to stir. It glared at her and then started forwards, hands outstretched as if to strangle her.

Katara's eyes widened and instinctively, she reached for the rusted doorknob and slammed the door shut before it could get to her. Zuko, who had dealt with the two Blue Spirits by then, turned to her and knelt down by the keyhole.

"Hold it shut," he said, looking up at her.

Katara nodded and looked fearfully over her shoulder back at the other room where the Red Spirits were frozen to the ground. Unluckily enough, one of them had already melted through the ice that had frozen its hand earlier and was starting to melt the ice that froze its feet to the ground.

"Hurry up, Zuko," she muttered. "Red and Redder are melting through the ice…"

"Sh!"

Zuko squinted through the keyhole for a moment and then leant back slightly. He pointed a finger at it and bent a tiny stream of flames through it—small, but hot enough to melt the lock. Half a second later, he turned around and did the same to the other room's door—the one in which Katara had frozen the Red Spirits.

"Let's go," he said, grasping Katara's wrist again when he'd finished.

"Where?"

"Anywhere but here!" he answered.

The doors on either side of them began to pound suddenly with doorknobs rattling madly and thump hammering on the wood. The Spirits obviously weren't happy that they had been locked in.

Katara looked from the door on her right to the one on her left uneasily and gulped. "Never mind, let's go," she said, her voice oddly higher than usual. She allowed Zuko to drag her a few metres down the hall to the hole where the trapdoor used to be.

"We're gonna have to jump."

Katara stared at him incredulously. "Down there? Didn't you just kick a couple of Spirits down there, who'll probably want to kill us even more, I might add?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "It's that or the window."

"I think I'd rather take my chances with the window," said Katara without thinking.

Zuko shrugged. "You're call," he said.

"What?"

Zuko didn't answer her. Instead, he grabbed her arm and began to drag her in the direction of the window just beyond the other side of the hole. Upon reaching it, kicked at the glass, shattering it within an instant, and then approached the glassless window and stared down at the soaked and muddy ground.

Rain was still pouring mercilessly down from the sky that looked like it was a heavy cloud of ash. Thunder still rumbled and lightning still flashed—it seemed like the storm would rage on for days.

"You were serious?" shrieked Katara in utter horrification. "You were bloody _serious_?"

"Yup, too late to change your mind now."

The doors that Zuko had locked using his firebending rattled even more and Katara looked from them to the muddy ground below to Zuko and then back to the doors again.

"Let's go, Katara, come on!" barked Zuko, stepping up onto the sill. He held his hand out for her to take.

Katara bit her lip nervously and looked back at the rattling doors. Then she heard a high-pitched shriek coming from the floor below, and looking towards the door-less trapdoor, she realised that it was the one of the Blue Spirits shrieking in frustration to get at them.

"Move it, Katara!"

A huge boom of thunder rumbled through the sky, so loud that they could almost feel it reverberating through their chests. At the same time, the one of the Red Spirits burst out of the room it was locked in and glared at them.

Katara gasped and took Zuko's outstretched hand without a second thought, climbing carefully onto the windowsill.

"On three—"

The Red Spirit charged towards them, about to thrust its hand forward to release another stream of flames, while the other one tried to tackle the door that kept the other Spirits locked in the other room.

"THREE!" was all Katara heard, and the next thing she knew, she and Zuko were falling again, this time towards the muddy ground.

Within a matter of seconds, she felt her feet hit the ground. The impact made her knees buckle underneath her and she fell, shoulder colliding with the soaked and muddy earth first, unable to regain her balance quickly enough.

She groaned and pushed herself upwards, breathing heavily and pushing her soaking wet hair out of her face. She looked around to see Zuko, already getting to his feet. She tried to do so as well, but found that by the time she herself had managed to get to her feet, the Spirits had already jumped out of the window and surrounded them.

She clutched her shoulder and backed away into Zuko who was already in his fighting stance.

"We have to fight our way to that cemetery, don't we?"

* * *

Aang held the torch above high above his head as he and Sokka followed the walls of the musty-smelling basement. Twenty minutes of aimless wandering and they found nothing of interest, and so, out of pure boredom, curiosity and almost desperation, they had made their way towards the wall where they found scrolls. Scrolls and scrolls of cookery, arts, history and stories all stuffed in random holes in the wall.

It was almost like a disgusting, unorganised library.

"Find anything?" asked Sokka after a while.

Aang turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "You're right behind me, why bother asking?"

"It's too quiet, dammit!" snapped Sokka. "I can't stand it if it's too quiet!"

The young Avatar rolled his eyes. "You know, I'm surprise you haven't complained that you're hungry yet..."

"Well, now that you mention it…"

"Maybe I shouldn't have said that," said Aang, running a palm over his face almost in irritation. He sighed. "I think our best bet is to have a look at some of these scrolls and see if there's anything helpful."

"Oh we have to read now, do we?"

"Yup."

Without another word, Aang reached up and took the first scroll he laid his fingers on, read through it quickly and put it back. He did the same for several other scrolls and finally, Sokka sighed and followed suit.

They went through scroll after scroll for what seemed like hours and at long last Aang frowned, scratched his bald head, and looked up at Sokka.

"Hey Sokka, is this what I think it is?"

"Huh?"

Aang shoved the rough parchment into the older boy's hands and pointed to a group of small red drops and then a darker smear of red in the corner.

Sokka tilted his head to the side in curiosity and touched a finger to it and then looked at his hands. "It's _blood_, Aang…and it's wet…"

"Wet? How can it still be wet? Even if Lan or Li cut themselves or something, it should be dry by now, wouldn't it/"

"That's what I was taught," murmured Sokka.

"Le' us explain, then, young 'uns."

Aang and Sokka spun around and yelped.

"Lan? Li?"

**

* * *

So Aang and Sokka finally get a little information about what's going on, eh? Be honest guys, did I do any better than I usually do with my action scenes?**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	12. Fight and Flight

**Hi Guys!**

**Howsit goin'? I'm glad you guys like it so far, and now you're in for a looooong chapter—11 pages! New personal record!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Lan, Li, Maia, and the PLOT. The plot is mine! The plot which has ghosts trying to kill the Aang gang+Zuko was thought up by me. Jellyjay. But other than those four things (Lan, Li, Maia and the plot) I own zippidy.**

**

* * *

Fight and Flight**

Sokka and Aang stared at the two innkeepers incredulously, both feeling extremely confused and now, very irritated as well. For hours they had had no idea what was happening and why several masked figures were trying to kill them, and now that it was being explained to them, they hardly felt the need to believe the story or the innkeepers even though they knew that they were telling the truth.

So now here they were, sitting on the earthy ground of the cellar beneath the tavern gaping disbelievingly at Lan and Li as they told their story.

"An' so, young sirs," said Lan, finishing their story, "now yous know. Yer sister an' 'er… erm… friend, would you say?"

"Prince Zuko is _not _our friend," snapped Sokka, glaring at the two old men. "He never was, and never will be."

Li scratched his head and tilted his head to the side. "Not yer friend? Hm… Zuko seemed like a gen'leman t' dear Katara when I ran int' them las'… even though they did argue a bi' like an' ol' married couple…" He shrugged after a moment of thought.

Sokka blinked and shuddered. Katara and _Zuko _acting like an old married couple? Oh, the horror…

"Where are they then?" asked Aang. "Where're Katara and Zuko? You never told us that part."

"You can' expec' us t' know ev'rythin'!" whined Lan childishly. "I mean, we may be dead, bu' tha' doesn' necessarily mean tha' we have the answer t' ev'ry'thin'."

Sokka rolled his eyes and scowled at the two. "So you don't know where my sister is?"

"Nope," said Li quickly.

Lan continued on however. "Wha' we do know is tha' she an' Prince Zuko are lookin' fer Maia's pendant—"

"Katara's already foun' i',"

"She 'as? Oh, okay then, they'll 'ave prob'ly foun' a way ou' of the inn already by now too, yup? She and Prince Zuko are prob'ly on their way to the village cemetery figh'ing off the Spiri's on the way."

"How would you know that?" questioned Aang folding his arms across his chest.

"Tha's wha' we told 'em t' do, i's the only way to break the Itaran Curse," answered Li with a shrug.

"Well then, are you gonna tell us why there's blood on this parchment?" asked Sokka handing the scroll over to the two old men.

The twins stared at the parchment and then at each other and ten back at the parchment again. They inspected it from different angles, tilting their heads from side to side as they turned the parchment over skim reading its contents.

Li frowned after a moment. "'_Use a treasured possession, allow three drops of the caster's blood to drop onto it and then conceal it…'_" he muttered under his breath. "Whose is this?"

He turned it overagain. "Oh, i's Maia's, shoulda known."

"Get on with it," hissed Sokka through gritted teeth. "Why is there blood on the parchment?"

"Supposedly, i' was the las' thing Maia read before she was murdered," replied Lan, shrugging. "Look, there see? The ink's smudged; I think she may 'ave been crying… you know, I 'ave t' say; I miss the poor girl…"

"Why's it still wet?" demanded Aang. He snatched the scroll away from Li and inspected it himself. It was only after he'd done it that he noted that he should have shown more respect to the old man. He sighed guiltily.

Lan shrugged again. "I wouldn' know, mus' be a side-effec' of the curse tha' Maia pu' on this place."

"Hey," said Aang suddenly looking up. "There's something else written in the corner of this… it's written in _blood_…"

"What is?" asked Sokka, taking the scroll from Aang. He frowned as the young monk pointed at the blood-red writing in the bottom right-hand corner. He handed it back to Li who in turn frowned at its sudden appearance.

"No…" he murmured. "Maia couldn' 'ave wri'en this…"

"I think she did…" muttered Aang, and then he read aloud:

"_Those who lived here  
Will forever stay  
To haunt this village night and day._

_Those who killed here  
are forever bound  
By Spirits of the Earthen Ground_

_With this pendant,  
This spell I cast,  
This Curse shall stay 'til it's buried at last_

_And burning parchment  
Is the key  
To break the chains and set us free._"

There was a long pause as Aang finished and then finally, Lan spoke up.

"Oh dear…" he said quietly, running a hand through the thinning hair on his scalp. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..."

"Does that mean what I think it means?" asked Aang slowly.

"What?" asked Sokka. "What does it mean?"

Li ignored him and nodded to Aang. "Burying the pendant won't work, they need this incantation too…"

* * *

Zuko felt Katara back into him as the Spirits closed in around them. This was possibly the worst situation that didn't involve family members and Fire Nation soldiers that he'd ever been involved in. He didn't have any advantage whatsoever because it was raining so hard, there were Spirits trying to kill him and the water tribe peasant, and he was supposed to… not so much protect… he was supposed to _look after _her until she could bend properly again.

"We have to fight our way to that cemetery, don't we?" he heard Katara say from behind him.

"Looks like it," he muttered. He ducked and yanked Katara down quickly as a stream of flames was shot towards them and then swiftly, he kicked out underneath the first advancing Spirit.

Kneeling down on one knee, he fired the largest jet of flames he could create at the nearest three Spirits, but they simply dodged them and charged towards him.

Zuko gnashed his teeth in irritation and aimed a series of flaming punches towards them when he felt Katara stand up again.

She raised her arms, raising the biggest wall of water she could make from the flooding ground, and then pushed her arms out forward, creating a miniature tsunami that knocked two Spirits out of the circle surrounding them and making a clear path for her and Zuko to escape through.

"Let's go, Zuko!" she hissed.

Zuko hauled himself up using Katara's arm, grasped her wrist and then began to run in the direction of the gap Katara had created with her miniature tidal wave.

"You know," she said as they ran through the soaking wet streets, "I noticed that there were only five of them back there, what happened to the other three?"

"Do we really want to find out?" snapped Zuko, rounding a sharp corner into another street.

"Point taken," muttered Katara, breathing heavily.

Then rather unexpectedly, the two teenagers tripped, landing face flat in a puddle of mud. Zuko spun around and scrambled backwards when he realised what it was that tripped them.

"They're _waterbenders_ too?"

"Forget what they are Zuko, let's just run!" Katara scuttled back onto her feet and began running again, backwards at first as she froze a group of large, heavy rain drops and sent them hurtling towards the Spirits. She didn't stand to watch whether they hit their target or not, tired as she was, she spun around and ran after Zuko as he turned another sharp corner, but when she rounded it, he was nowhere in sight.

She yelped as she was suddenly yanked backwards into a gap between two old and rickety buildings, and then for the third time that night, a drenched hand was placed over her mouth to silence her.

"Sh, it's only me."

"Mmph?" _Zuko? _

"Quiet!"

She stiffened slightly when she heard hurried footsteps splashing through muddy ground, and then afraid that her heavy breathing would give them away, she did her best to slow it down and calm herself. They watched and waited quietly as a green masked Spirit and a yellow masked Spirit wandered slowly past their hiding place.

The green one stopped for a moment and did a double-take. It stared directly at their hiding place for a second or two and then, slowly, it began to step towards them.

Zuko swore under his breath and ducked behind the barrel that half-hid the entrance to the narrow gap that they were hiding in, yanking Katara down with him without warning.

They stayed like that for about a minute, barely breathing and not daring to even move, and soon enough, the Spirit's footsteps sounded again, slowly and reluctantly, but at least they were leaving.

Once certain that they were gone, Zuko sighed in relief and removed his hand from Katara's mouth. He clutched her shoulders and spun her around quickly so that she was facing him.

"Listen," he said quietly, staring into Katara's tired face. "I know that all of this is exhausting, especially for you, as you haven't completely recovered from that cut. Fighting like this won't get us anywhere, you agree?"

Katara nodded.

"Then we're going to have to hide, like we did when that guy with the chains was looking for us on the third floor of the tavern…" he paused for a moment, and then said, "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but have you ever heard of a game called 'Lantern'?"

"Is it that the one played in the dark and there are basically no rules except that if you're out, you're out?" she asked. Her voice sounded a little nervous.

"You've heard of it? Okay then, how do you get out?"

Katara shrugged. "If the person who's in catches sight of you before you manage to get to your target?"

Zuko blinked. "Yeah, actually, how did you know? It's a Fire Nation game."

"It was called 'Snowball' in the South Pole—same thing, really, but you have to get hit by a snowball to get out."

"Right then, pretend it's that game. The Spirits are in, but we _can't_ get caught out, if we do, we're dead."

Katara nodded again. Zuko glanced at her quickly before turning around and peering over the top of the barrel. Seeing no one, he turned back to face her and said quietly, "Follow me. Be as quiet as you can, and stay out of trouble, got it?"

Once again, Katara nodded.

"This way," he whispered, crawling away from the barrel toward the other end of the gap.

"Do you even know where you're going?" hissed Katara, staring after him.

"Not really…"

"Then what's the point of following you?"

"Do you want to find that cemetery or not?"

Katara scowled and scuttled after him. "It's not like you know where you're going anyway!" she whispered harshly.

"Well it's not like you do either!" snapped Zuko peering around the corner of the gap checking to see whether the coast was clear. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"

"Possibly…"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Just be quiet."

They rounded the corner quietly and hurried quickly down the street, knowing that at any second, one of the Spirits could appear and start trying to kill them again. Zuko glanced around the building that marked the corner of the street and then waved a hand at Katara, telling her to stay back.

She did so, leaning heavily against the sopping wet wall, and hastily, Zuko pulled himself back to the side on which he and Katara were hiding on.

"There're three of them down that street," he whispered, "the two blue ones and a green one. One of the blue ones is coming down this way."

"What do we do?"

Zuko studied the street for a moment, and catching sight of a ladder just behind Katara, he took hold of her wrist and pulled her towards it. "Go," he hissed. "Hurry."

"This is the inn all over again!" Katara grumbled as she began to climb quickly up the ladder. She climbed onto the wooden balcony of the building on which the ladder was leaning on, and helped Zuko climb onto it as well, just as the sound of splashing footsteps made its way around the corner.

"Get down!" whispered Zuko, yanking Katara on to the wet wood. She yelped slightly, but allowed herself to be pulled down.

Down on the street, the Spirit gazed about suspiciously. It looked from the rickety house across from the two, to the balcony on which they were hiding, and then down to the other end of the street.

Its footsteps began to sound again, walking slowly to the end of the street, and Zuko, sighing in relief, crawled slowly to the open doorway that led indoors.

Katara followed him and once inside, Zuko stood up and made his way down the dark staircase.

"Am I supposed to follow you down there?" asked Katara quietly, as he descended down the creaking stairway.

"Yup," answered Zuko, not looking back at her, just as another boom of thunder echoed through the village. Zuko waited for it to fade out before speaking again. "C'mon."

"But Lan said—"

"That we were lucky to walk into his inn rather than any other building?" said Zuko, turning around for a second. "I know, but would you rather stay in here until the coast is clear or stay out there in the pouring rain waiting for the Spirits to clear off?"

Katara didn't answer him. Instead she scowled and followed him anyway. Zuko smirked at her and continued down the stairs.

The building was empty, thankfully, or it seemed like it at least, and to add to that, everything in it seemed… _creaky_.

Zuko peered out the window to see if any Spirits were outside the front of the building, just as Katara stepped off the last stair, and quite unfortunately, the two blue ones hadn't moved from the spot where Zuko saw them last.

_CLATTER!_

Katara clenched her jaw and shut her eyes in irritation as Zuko spun around and glared at her. As it turned out, Maia's pendant had been slipping out of her pocket. It slipped out of her pocket, and landed on the wooden floor creating a clatter loud enough for the Spirits standing outside the building to hear it.

"You did _not _just—"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Screw it, they're coming!"

Katara bit her lip and snatched up the pendant as Zuko scrambled around trying to find something—anything that they could use to hide, and as he hurried over the wooden floor, he caught sight of he handle of trapdoor.

"Over here!" he hissed to Katara, who hurried over to him as he wrenched the trapdoor open. He ushered her into the dark and jumped in after her, slamming the trapdoor shut just as the two blue Spirits tackled down the door.

"What is it with these trapdoors?" he muttered, seizing her wrist and dragging her away from the trapdoor.

Katara said nothing and allowed herself to be dragged underneath the creaking floorboards.

There wasn't much room under the floor, the two supposed it was just some place to hide, but whether it was used for that purpose or not, Katara and Zuko found it fairly useful in this situation.

There was silence for several moments and then suddenly, a broadsword was plunged through the floorboards not too far away from them.

Katara opened her mouth to scream but was kept silent again by Zuko. She drew her knees as close to herself as she could and leant into Zuko, who seemed to have no problem with it as long as she kept quiet.

The broadsword pulled itself out of the floor and then footsteps thumped about above them, and then the broadsword was plunged into the floor again, a little way from Katara's right.

For about five more minutes, this went on, the broadsword plunging in and out of the floor (one landed dangerously close to Zuko's shoulder) as if the Spirits knew they were underneath the floorboards but couldn't be stuffed opening the trapdoor and finding them themselves.

Finally, the broadswords stopped. Two sets of footsteps sounded again; by the sound of things, the Spirits were looking around again, and finally, they went towards the direction the main door and then they stopped. The door squeaked open, and then slammed shut, and then there was silence.

Katara and Zuko, however, didn't move. They sat under the floorboards until absolutely positive that the Spirits were long gone, and then silently, Zuko removed his hand away from Katara's mouth and crawled towards the trapdoor.

He opened it slightly and looked around, making sure that it was safe to come out, and then quietly (though the hinges of the trapdoor didn't allow much quiet as they creaked semi-loudly) he opened the trapdoor a little more and hauled himself out. He held his hand out for Katara to take while the other held the trapdoor open for her.

Katara took his outstretched hand and pulled herself back onto the creaking floorboards.

Zuko shut the door quietly once she had climbed out and went back to the window. He waited for several moments, watching the Spirits outside and after several moments of more silence, Zuko sighed, turned to Katara and jerked his head towards the stairs.

Katara nodded and made her way slowly towards the stairway and began to climb them again. Zuko hurried after her and upon reaching the balcony again, he pushed past her and studied the street below.

For a minute or two, he was silent, and then he turned to Katara, a somewhat thoughtful smirk on his face.

"Ohno," she said quietly, backing away. "I don't like that look on your face, I _really _don't like that look on your face…"

"I have an idea," said Zuko, smirking at her. "Are you still tired?"

"A little…"

"Are you going to be able to bend something that'll create a distraction for us?"

"Depends…" answered Katara almost nervously. "What do you have in mind?"

Zuko cocked his head to the side. "Don't be so nervous, it's not as crazy as any ideas you and your friends come up with."

Katara frowned. "I don't see how any of our ideas are crazy…"

"Sh," Zuko looked back over at the two Spirits patrolling the street. "Look," he said. "All you have to do is make some sort of noise that'll get Blue One and Blue Two down there to clear off this road."

"Why can't we just go down that street?" asked Katara, jabbing a thumb over at the other street.

"Because the cemetery's that way," answered Zuko pointing the opposite direction. "You can see gravestones and things even from here when lightning flashes."

"Right…"

There was an awkward pause, and then Zuko hissed, "What are you waiting for?"

Katara rolled her eyes but moved her arms in a small circular motion, grouping together a small amount of raindrops and than freezing them together to make a small, frozen ball about the size of her fist. Then she pulled her elbow back and then thrust the heel of her hand forward, sending the frozen ball of water hurtling towards the closed window of a nearby empty house on the other street.

The window smashed like she intended it to, and almost as soon as it did, the Spirits below them jumped, looked at each other and then ran in the direction of the sound.

Wasting no time, Zuko seized Katara's wrist again and hurried to the other side of the balcony. Katara, realising what Zuko was planning, snatched her hand out of Zuko's grip.

"We're not jumping _again_, are we?"

"It's the fastest way down," said Zuko matter-of-factly. "And we don't have that much time anyway, so you're just going to have to deal with it."

"It's okay, you can jump, I'll take the stairs…"

"Listen," snapped Zuko. "We're wasting time and we don't _have_ that much of it." Without another word he climbed over the wooden railing, and jumped, landing expertly crouched on his feet. He looked up at her. "C'mon Katara, jump!"

Katara shook her head.

"Don't tell me you've suddenly become afraid of heights! You ride on a flying bison almost every day! Just jump! I'll—" He sighed and shut his eyes in irritation. "I'll catch you…"

"What the hell?" Katara snapped.

"Just jump, dammit! If I have to catch you I will! Quit being such a baby! You're wasting time!"

Katara scowled. "I'm not a baby!" she snapped.

"Prove it, then!"

Katara ground her teeth and glared at him, and rather reluctantly, she climbed over the railing and exhaled deeply. She wasn't afraid of heights, she was afraid of falling from them—they were two entirely different things. She could ride on Appa because she knew that the bison wouldn't randomly lose its ability to fly. Falling from certain heights two, about to be three times in one night was now starting to really bug her.

Counting silently to three, she exhaled shakily again and let go of the railing, falling backwards and expecting to land painfully on her feet and then collapsing backwards but it didn't come. Instead she landed with an, "Oof!" in Zuko's arms, and upon realising this, she fought her way out of his arms and back onto solid ground.

"If you force me to jump again tonight, you will be dead by morning, got that?" she hissed.

Zuko snorted and seized her wrist again. "Whatever you say, _m'lady_."

"Shut up."

He started running again in the direction of the cemetery, dragging Katara behind him, but it was only moments after they started running that they heard a shriek that Katara recognised as one of the Blue Spirits.

"Oh no…"

"They're coming after us again, aren't they?"

They didn't turn around to try and stop them from coming, they didn't even look over they're shoulders to see how far away they were, Katara and Zuko just ran as quickly as they could to the cemetery. It was only when they arrived that they turned around to see where the Spirits were as the stumbled carelessly about the gravestones, but when they did turn around, they didn't see the Spirits, but a gigantic wall of flames.

"Zuko, did you—?"

"That wasn't me!"

And then a new voice joined the conversation—one that came from a familiar looking red-clad figure.

"It's about time some one new stepped into this gods-forsaken village!" she snapped, her arms raised keeping the fire-wall up.

Katara and Zuko spun around and felt their jaws drop at the sight of the person who had just saved their lives.

"Are you…?"

"You're not…?"

"_Maia_?"

**

* * *

Wow, that was strange. Anyone else think it was strange? The game that Zuko was talking about was based on a game played often in camps here in NZ (possibly where ever you are too) called 'Spotlight', played at night with the person who's 'in' having a torch and trying to find everyone who're trying to ring the big bell in the middle of the playing area. No rules, but if you're caught, you're out. If you've never played it before, you have try it, it's fun.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	13. Maia

**Hi Guys!**

**We're back to normal sized chapters now—the normal six pages for me, anyway. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to say I own it, I don't wanna get sued, so there, I don't own it.**

**

* * *

Maia **

Maia grinned at the two stunned teenagers and moved her hands down a little, lowering the fire wall separating them from the Spirits, then thrusting both hands out, the fire wall rushed at the Spirits behind it at such a rapid speed despite the inconvenient weather.

"So, how's it been you guys? Long night?" she asked, almost too cheerfully.

All the two could do was nod mutely.

Zuko stared from one girl to the other in total awe. What Lan said was true; they looked almost like twins, but with a few minor differences. Instead of brown hair, Maia had black and instead of the usual braid Katara wore her hair in, Maia wore it in a traditional Fire Nation bun. Her eyes, instead of being blue, were a dark amber colour, darker than Zuko's but not dark enough to even be light hazel. Her skin was a little paler than Katara's but other than that, they looked almost exactly the same, their noses the exact same shape, they were the exact same height, even their smiles looked identical. She (Maia) didn't even seem that much older than Katara herself.

"Agni…Lan was right," he muttered quietly. "You two _do _look like each other… this is strange…"

Katara, who seemed to have lost the ability to speak properly, managed to ask in a small and slightly squeaky voice, "Am I looking at a demented mirror or something?"

Maia chuckled lightly. "Nope," she answered, giggling, "You're staring at me, Maia, and, you know what? I'm sorry, but this has to come out: _finally_!Some one shows up! After fifty, blimin' years, some one shows up!"

Both Katara and Zuko blinked in slight confusion.

Maia grimaced at the stares that she received from the two teenagers and shrugged. "I'll explain why I'm so odd later, in the meantime, there's a cave over in that direction—" she jerked her head in direction behind her, "—we can go there so you two can dry off a little."

Zuko nodded.

Maia grinned again and turned around, gesturing for the two to follow her. They did so, making their way around gravestones and leafless trees and looking up at the jagged cliff face silhouetted dimly in the distance, and then after a moment, Maia looked over her shoulder again and smiled at them.

"Sorry, guys," she said (_They even _sound _like each other_, thought Zuko incredulously), "but I didn't get your names… but then again, you _did _seem a little shocked when I found you, so I guess it's understandable."

"Don't worry about it, Maia," said Katara suddenly from behind Zuko, obviously having recovered from the shock of meeting her… twin. "_We're _sorry about not introducing ourselves earlier—I'm Katara, and this is Zuko…" she jerked her head at Zuko, ignoring the way he rolled his eyes at her. "It's nice to meet you… thanks for helping us out with the Spirits and them."

"No problem," answered Maia cheerfully. "I take it Lan or Li told you about me? …And about the Spirits? …And about the curse?"

Katara nodded.

"Hm… so what brings you guys to Itara?"

"Long story…" muttered Zuko.

Katara rolled her eyes at him. "What are you talking about? It's not long at all!" She turned to Maia and began to explain. "We got in the storm, and Itara was kind of the only place to go, so we came here."

"Are you two together or something?" asked Maia innocently.

"What?" snapped Zuko, "No!"

Katara shuddered. "Maia, I would hope that when you said 'together' you weren't talking about _us_ being…" she shuddered again, "_together_. That's just… ew…."

Maia stopped, turned around and tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "Huh? How is it gross?"

"We _hate_ each other!" answered Zuko exasperatedly.

"You don't _seem _like you hate each other, in fact you guys seem like old buddies! If you do hate each other, then what are you doing here together?"

Katara sighed and stepped forward. "You see, Maia, my brother and I are travelling with the Avatar—at the moment, we have no idea where they are, but thing is, Zuko here is the Prince of the Fire Nation, and see… well, he's chasing us all over the world, wasn't that obvious?"

"Pfft, no… hang on," said Maia slowly, turning to Zuko, "you're the Prince of the Fire Nation?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, just in case this is what you're thinking, no, I'm not going to bow down to you, 'cus dammit, the bloody Fire Nation killed me and this entire village, there is _no way _I'm going to bow down to their Prince."

Katara smirked at him as he ran a palm over his face in slight irritation.

"I wasn't expecting you to! I'm used to it!"

"Used to it?" asked Maia, raising an eyebrow. There was another boom of thunder and then a quick but strong gust of wind, then looking up she grimaced slightly at the storm. She heaved a sigh. "Tell me later, we should get to that cave in the meantime."

She turned around again and started towards the cliff. The other two shrugged and followed her, this time trying to put as much distance between themselves as possible. How Maia got the idea that they were _together _was beyond them, but they were determined to make sure no one ever thought of it again.

Minutes passed and more minutes passed—in fact it seemed like _hours_ before they reached the cave, and finally Maia stopped outside the cave entrance. "After you," she said, gesturing politely at the cave and standing back to let the two soaked teenagers pass.

Without another word, the two hurried past her and into the cave. Maia walked in after them, lighting a small fire on the earthy ground. She sat down on a rock in front of it and watched amusedly as the two dried themselves off on opposite sides of the cave; Zuko using his firebending, Katara waterbending the water out of her clothes and hair, both taking care to make sure they didn't even look at the other.

"Maia?" asked Katara from her corner suddenly, breaking the silence that echoed throughout the cave.

"Hm?"

"If you don't mind me asking, aren't you supposed to be against us for trying to lift the curse you put on this place?"

Maia scoffed as Katara came and sat down cross legged across from her, dry but still cold. Zuko followed her but didn't sit down. Instead, he leant on the cave wall and watched the two girls.

"Do you have any idea how boring it is wandering the same graveyard every night for fifty years?" she answered. "It's bloody irritating, I tell you… and no one ever comes to visit…"

"Okay…"

"Why'd you even curse on this place anyway?" asked Zuko monotonously.

Maia looked up at him and blinked. "Why?"

"Yeah, why?" repeated Zuko.

Maia's eyes, the two noticed, darkened considerably and rather dejectedly, she looked away and sighed. "That explanation includes a _very _long story that I absolutely hate, so tell me now—can you stand listening to history? My history, I might add?"

"Wait, Maia, you don't have to tell us if—"

"It's fine, don't worry," said Maia, waving her off, though still sounding as though she _really _didn't want to speak. "So can you listen to some more history, or not? I know Lan and Li have probably told you loads about this place already, can you listen to any more?"

Zuko nodded, and Katara followed suit after a moment's hesitation.

"You see," Maia began, shifting into a more comfortable position, "My family was one of those 'noble' families in the Fire Nation, the ones that cared for nothing but wealth and power—Zuko, you know those families, right?"

Zuko nodded, and Maia continued.

"I _hated _my life then. Absolutely _hated_ it, my father was an idiot who worked in the army, he was never home, and when he was he was drunk and abusive. My mother worked in the palace—we didn't really know what she did there, she never talked about it, something about the Fire Lord, but she worked in the palace, and didn't really try and help if my father was drunk; she just sat there and watched most of the time, and my brothers were horrible to me because I was the only girl—five of them, one of me, and they were _evil. _To everyone they met—rude, obnoxious and _evil_.

"Anyway, at one point when I was about eight, they decided they were going to try an experiment with me—they decided they were going to find out what my mother's reaction would be if I disappeared, so while I was asleep one night, they… well, I don't know what they did, but the next day, I woke up in a forest in the Fire Nation. Three days later, a group of gypsies found me wandering the around the place like I was some sort of stray cat or something. They offered me a home… they were great, they taught me all sorts of things, how to make food, how to look after myself, and all this sorcery stuff. One of the women there, she was what… twenty-two or something? Her name was Reef, she was like an older sister and a mother in one—she was practically my best friend.

"I stayed with them for about two years, travelling the world and all—I would've stayed longer, I loved living with them, but see; the Fire Nation just had to come and ruin my happiness again. They came, Reef told me to run away and hide, and even though I didn't want to leave her, she practically forced me to. After that incident, I never saw her again." She gulped to quell the wavering note in her voice. Inhaling deeply, she continued.

"Distraught, I wandered the place for a day or two, and eventually, I landed up here in Itara. Lan and Li took me in like I was their long lost little sister, they looked out for me and all. I made friends with most of the kids my age in the village, and for four more years, I was happy.

"And then came the blimin' Fire Nation. _Again_. And they massacred everyone, took me in as their prisoner, the idiot of a general… I don't even want to think about what he did to me, and then he ordered me killed."

"So you got your revenge by cursing the town and everyone in it?" asked Katara quietly.

"Well, really," said Maia, "I'm not a bad person, I wouldn't curse anyone _just _for revenge, but the Fire Nation was getting on my nerves. They killed everyone I knew and loved, and before I died, I cursed the place to keep everyone in it. I used that particular incantation, which wasn't really that specific, but I used it because it was the only one that seemed to fit my description of 'revenge'."

"So that's why… I get it now…" muttered Zuko.

Maia shook her head sadly. "No, you don't understand," she said bitterly, trying her best to hold back any tears that were fighting their way out of her eyes. "I hid the truth from everyone who knew me back then, afraid that they'd judge because of my family. I should've known better. But, you see, had it been any normal general and I would've let them be, but this General… dammit, the General's name was Shan, and General Shan…" she hesitated for a moment, and then took a wavering breath and then finished her sentence. "General Shan was my father."

* * *

"Wait," said Sokka, waving his hands around in confusion. "Even if Katara and Zuko do bury that pendant, it's not going to work?" 

"I'm afraid no'," said Lan grimly. "Li's righ', they need this incantation 'ere too, an' if they don' 'ave i'… then we 'ave a bi' of a problem…"

"Isn't there any way we could get out of here and give it to them?" asked Aang.

Li shook his head. "Even if you two were t' ge' ou' of the inn, we still don' know where those two are."

"Well, you two are dead!" snapped Sokka. "Couldn't you… glide through the walls or something?"

"I'm afraid i's no' tha' simple," said Lan. "You see, Maia's curse preven's us Itarans from leavin' the buildin' we were either killed in or the proper'y we were killed on. The only way we can free ourselves from the buildin' we're trapped in is if some one who isn' from the village breaks a window or door down."

"Do trapdoors count?" asked Aang hopefully.

"Door tha' lead ou'side, young Avatar," answered Li glumly. "And I'm afraid tha' even we don' klnow how t' ge' ou' of this cellar until mornin'."

There was an awkward silence that sounded for about ten minutes, and then finally, after several moments of deep thought, Sokka spoke up.

"Well…" he started. "If Katara and Zuko are already out of here like you say they are… how did they get out?"

"Wha' was tha' boy?" asked Li, looking up suddenly.

"How did they get out?" repeated the water tribe boy. "They can't use the main door, I tried again and again to open that door and no matter what you do, it won't open, which means—"

Lan looked up suddenly and grinned his yellow-toothed grin again. "Sokka, lad, yer a genius," he said, beaming at him.

"Of course I am!" said Sokka, standing up and patting himself on the back. "Wait," he said suddenly, "I am? Why? What'd I say?"

Aang rolled his eyes and spoke to him as if he were a three year-old. "Sokka, if Katara and Zuko didn't use a door to get out, what did they have to break to get out?"

"A window… hey, I'm more of a genius then I thought!"

"Bi' slow t'nigh' aren' you, boy? Don' ge' cocky," grumbled Li getting to his feet as well. "Look, we'll go find yer sis'er and Zuko and give 'em the incantation, okay? Stay 'ere, an' stay ou' of trouble." With that, the two old men turned and began to head off in the opposite direction.

"Hey, wait! What about us?"

There was no answer.

**

* * *

The twins ditched the Avatar! The Twins ditched the Avatar! And if you're wondering about Maia and why her own father ordered her dead and... ahem coughrapedhercough, well, yes, she does have a screwed up family, and somehow, I think I've turned her into a Sue. Please let me know so I can fix that. **

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	14. The Spirits Victorious

**Hi Guys!**

**I found a minor error in the previous chapter, I've fixed it already but for those I forgot to tell who read it before I fixed it, Maia stayed in Itara for _four_ years, not two, bringing the total amount of time in which her father hadn't seen her up to six years instead of four. Now that that little muck-up's been fixed, here's your next chapter!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I'm a thirteen year-old girl who can't even find her own wallet so she can top up her cellphone which has not been topped up for six months, do you really think I'd be able to own such an excellent show?**

**

* * *

The Spirits Victorious **

Several moments of silence followed Maia's last statement. Katara stared at her, and then after a second's hesitation, she wondered aloud, "What kind of father would do such a thing?"

Zuko said nothing, knowing all too well what ambitious fathers in the Fire Nation were capable of doing. Quietly, he pushed himself off his leaning spot on the wall and sat down next to Katara, who eyed him uneasily but didn't move away.

Then, rather timidly, Katara asked quietly, "He didn't recognise you, did he? I mean, he hadn't seen you in six years…"

"I'm afraid he did," answered Maia, nodding sadly. "That's why he ordered them to take me as their prisoner rather than kill me on the spot like they did with the rest of the village. They chucked me into the cellar that night, while everyone else was partying in the tavern above me. They were probably getting drunk and that kind of thing… anyway, I found a bunch of old scrolls under there, and out of complete hopelessness, I began to read through them.

"I found the one that Reef gave me before she told me to hide. She told me that I'd find it useful in future, and so I kept it. Lan and Li hid it for me so that no one else would find it, and eventually, I forgot it was there.

"Later on that night, after I'd cried myself to sleep, one of the soldiers came down to get me. He woke me up and told me that the General wanted to see me. He chained my hands behind my back so I couldn't firebend, and literally dragged me to the room he was in. After shutting the door, Shan demanded that I tell him where the Avatar was.

"I didn't answer him for several reasons, the main one being that I didn't know, and then randomly, he commented on how much I'd grown since he last saw me.

"Still, I didn't answer him and when he said I'd '_blossomed_' in the time he hadn't seen me that, I knew he wasn't just complimenting me. I made a break for the door but he caught my wrist and threw me on to the bed. I was forced to lie there like a rag doll while he…" she trailed off, unable to continue and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Maia…" said Katara quietly, crawling around to the other side of the fire to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she yelped suddenly as her hand didn't touch it like what happened in her dream.

Maia couldn't help but chuckle sadly. "Spirit, remember?" she said with a small smile. "Sit back down, I'll tell you the rest of the story."

"Wait, you don't—" began Katara, but Maia waved her off.

"It's okay, don't worry." She gave them a small smile before continuing. "After Shan… you know, he told me to dress myself, and after that, I still wouldn't tell him anything, so he beat me, like he did when I was a little kid. And he kept beating me until I was bleeding and broken in one corner of the room.

"He ordered one of his soldiers to take me back down to the cellar. Down there, I decided that I'd had enough, and without thinking about anything thoroughly first, I took the scroll Reef gave me and looked for the perfect curse to put on the village. I understood then why Reef gave it to me; she gave it to me so I could avenge everyone that I loved that was killed by the Fire Nation.

"When I found the incantation I wanted, it said on the scroll that I had to allow three drops of blood to drop onto it, one for the three most important people in my life: Lan, Li, and Reef. So I took the only treasured possession I had left, other than Reef's scroll, and did that."

"That was your pendant, right?" interrupted Zuko.

Maia nodded at him and continued. "It said to conceal it, but I didn't have anywhere to hide it, but then I caught sight of some of the soldiers, wandering about outside picking up random discarded objects off the ground. I supposed that they were cleaning up and hiding all the evidence of the Itara Massacre. So I broke the narrow window on the far side of the cellar and chucked it outside hoping that they would hide it for me, and that was when I noticed it had started raining.

"I rewrote the incantation out on the corner of the same piece of parchment in my own blood, and then stuffed it back into its place on the shelf. Two hours later, I was dragged out of the cellar again and to this cemetery, where the soldiers did nothing but taunt me, and then they slit my throat when they saw my father coming.

"What I didn't know, however, was that the incantation I used trapped everyone who entered the village, even if they didn't die there. If they did, they were trapped inside the building they were killed in or outside of, and they were trapped in there unless someone living entered the village and broke a window or door. If they didn't die there, they were trapped inside any random building. The incantation also preserved the weather—that's why it's raining so hard here in Itara. It turned the people who fought back the longest into Spirits, with a coloured mask appropriate to what they bent."

Katara shook her head suddenly. "So… hang on, there were yellow masked ones… does that mean they were airbenders?"

Maia nodded. "Some of the last airbenders left in the world took refuge in Itara because it was so insignificant at the time."

There was a small moment of silence before Katara spoke up again. "Maia, one of the Spirits cut my neck earlier, and not long after that I passed out and saw first-hand what happened here fifty years ago. How come?"

"Was it one of the firebenders?" asked Maia.

Katara nodded silently.

"Simple, really," answered Maia, "It was the same knife used to slit my throat."

"And your father?" asked Zuko. "Lan said he died, how?"

Maia shook her head. "Don't," she said, "refer to him as my father, I _hate _that. As for how he died? The Spirits killed him when he went back to the inn in the morning—did Lan tell you that four of the Spirits were four girls?"

The two nodded.

"The blue ones (Phaedra and Mari) scared him out of the inn, then one of the green ones… the smiling green one (Aila), I think, killed him, five arrows in the back after one of the yellow ones (Caelum) tripped him up with some chains."

"You knew them?" asked Katara.

Maia smiled softly and nodded. "They were good friends of mine back then—too bad as Spirits they don't listen to me or anyone else. Did you manage to convince them that you weren't me?"

Katara raised an eyebrow.

"Eh… maybe not, they were trying to kill you when I found you, weren't they?"

"Obviously," muttered Zuko. "I thought you said the Spirits could bend, why do they need weapons?"

Maia rolled her eyes at him. "Whoa, someone's arrogant." She raised an eyebrow at him, and what her gaze meant was clear: _Look whose talking_.

Zuko opened his mouth and then shut again, twice, unable to think of anything to say. Then finally, "How do you know…?"

Maia smirked at him. "The same way I can tell that you have fee—" she paused abruptly and shook her head. "Don't worry, forget I just said that—all you should know is that I'm a spirit; I _know _things." She gave him a quick glance and turned back to Katara and asked, "How did you guys get out of the inn? The main door's locked."

"Wait, what were you about to say?" demanded Zuko.

"Nothing," said Maia innocently, though her glare told her that the subject was not to be discussed. "So how _did _you get out? The main door should be locked and only opened again from the outside."

"Zuko smashed one of the windows," answered Katara. "It was sort of our only choice."

"Oh no," groaned Maia, turning to Zuko. "You smashed a window? Dammit, Shan was trapped in that building, probably in the attic, but you smashed a window? He's going to end up wandering the village!"

Katara frowned. "Why? What's so bad if he's wandering the village?"

"He'll be wondering why he's still stuck here, and his first thought will be to find me!"

"But… you're dead," argued Zuko. "What can he possibly do to you if you're dead?"

"You don't get it do you?" snapped Maia irritably.

"Not really, no."

Maia rolled her eyes again. "Argh, just forget it. Do you have my pendant?"

Katara nodded, fishing it out of her pocket and then holding her hand out so Maia could see.

"Good, do you have Reef's scroll?"

The two teenagers blinked and exchanged confused glances.

"What scroll? Lan didn't say anything about having to bring a scroll."

"You don't have it?" hissed Maia, standing up suddenly. Out of slight infuriation, she started pacing around the cave quickly. "Darn it, I thought Lan and Li knew!" She sighed heavily and turned back to the two confused benders still sitting on the cave floor. "Look, remember how I rewrote the incantation in my own blood in the corner of that scroll? That rewritten version needs to be bunt at the same time as burying the pendant. They're like two halves—if the other one isn't there, they won't be complete, thus the curse won't be broken!"

Katara and Zuko stared at her incredulously. "We have to go back for a _scroll_?"

Maia nodded. "See, if you don't break the curse tonight, when you die, your spirits won't cross over into the Spirit World, they'll come zooming back to Itara and be trapped here for eternity unless some other person breaks the curse."

Zuko growled in irritation. "This is infuriating, dammit!" he hissed through gritted teeth.

"Hurry then," said Maia. "You need to bury the pendant and burn the incantation before daybreak, which is only a few hours from now. You need to go back to the inn and into the cellar, find the scroll and bring it back here."

"Why couldn't we just do this tomorrow night?" asked Katara.

Maia sighed irritably. "Because everyone else may not be visible in the daytime, but the Spirits are even more dangerous in daytime than in night time—the reason Shan was killed so easily. Now go! I'd go with you, but I can't unless you break a window or door—which there isn't. Now hurry!"

The two scowled but hurried out of the cave and back into the rain. Thirty seconds later, they were already shivering and soaked to the bone, nevertheless, they rushed back into the village dodged behind the nearest house as four well-aimed arrows came flying in their direction.

Zuko swore under his breath. "The Spirits are back," he muttered as he leant against the wet wood of the building they were hiding behind. "That could make things considerably more complicated."

"State the obvious, why don't you?" hissed Katara in reply.

"Feeling good enough to bend again?" asked Zuko.

"Yep, I'm good."

"Good." Zuko paused and looked around the side of the building again. Half a second later he pulled himself back onto the safe side. "Okay," he whispered, turning to her quickly. "At the moment, it's just the two green ones and a red one, and the green one that Maia said killed Shan is shooting arrows at us, and she's good; like a member of the Yuu yan but from the Earth Nation."

"That's helpful _how_?"

Zuko rolled his eyes, and instead of answering her, took her wrist and hurried to the other side of the building just as the three Spirits Zuko had caught sight of arrived on the side that they were on seconds before.

"Look," he whispered. "I'll try my best to distract them. _You _need to go, as fast as you can, to the inn. Don't waste any time, just get in any way you can, go straight into the cellar, grab the scroll, I'll meet you outside the inn."

"Wait," interrupted Katara, waving her hands out in front of her. "_Split up_?"

"Yes, _split up_," snapped Zuko. "Do you have any better ideas?"

"Well…" she grimaced when nothing came to mind. "…No…"

Zuko smirked at her. "Didn't think so. Tell you what, you're _that _scared of being alone—"

"I'm not _scared_!" snapped Katara.

Zuko ignored her. "—I'll distract them, and then I'll follow you, okay?"

"But—"

"Let's go." Without another word, Zuko glanced quickly around the corner and then leapt out from behind the building and fired several flaming punches towards the three advancing Spirits. He jerked his back, signalling for Katara to start heading towards the inn.

She scowled at him but ran out from behind the building towards the direction of the inn. Running as fast as she could, she rounded a sharp corner only to be met by two other Spirits; the two blue ones.

Without hesitating, Katara raised her arms above her head and moved them in a swift circular motion. The flooding water (which was now ankle-deep where the ground was uneven) around the Spirits' feet rose into two large columns of water. She froze the columns solid and ran past them without a second thought. She heard the Spirits shriek in frustration and then the unmistakable sound of a large amount of water melting quickly and splashing onto the ground.

Katara ignored them and continued to run quickly towards the inn. She cast a quick glance behind her, but as it turned out, she had lost sight of Zuko, but she knew he'd fine (that's what she told herself at least. Why she was even worrying about him , she didn't know—she supposed that she still had to repay him for saving her life more than once in one night).

She arrived at the inn five minutes later and wasting no time, she created a large icicle and smashed it against the doorknob. The door swung open with a loud creak and Katara hurried inside and began to scan the floor for any sign of a trapdoor that would lead down into a cellar.

Biting her lip, Katara hurried about the tavern, noting dimly that the staircase leading up onto the second floor had collapsed.

She scuttled about, finding nothing and eventually, she climbed over the counter and to her relief, found that a dusty old rug had been pulled back revealing an ancient trapdoor.

Katara sighed quickly in relief and tried to pry the trapdoor open but her relief turned frustration when the door didn't budge.

"_Dammit_!" she hissed, kicking at the metal ring… and then—

"Did you hear that?"

The voice was muffled, but Katara was _sure _that that was her brother speaking. "Sokka?" she called cautiously.

There was small pause and then a banging on the trapdoor from underneath it. Katara backed away instinctively and then she heard them.

"Katara! Thank the gods you've found us! Open the door, please!"

"Sokka? Aang? Are you guys down there?" she called, crawling forward slowly.

"Yes! Open the door!"

"I can't it's stuck!" Katara paused for a moment and then an idea hit her. "Aang, Sokka, listen. There's a scroll down there… I dunno what it looks like, but it's got an incantation written in blood in the corner. Have you seen it?"

"Oh that scroll," said Aang's voice. "Lan and Li have got it. They left about five minutes ago trying to find you and Zuko so they could give it to you. They thought you were at the cemetery already."

Katara swore under her breath. "I have to go," she said quickly. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that, she scrambled to her feet and leapt over the counter ignoring the sounds of "Hang on, Katara, wait!" and "Katara, where're you going!" She needed to find Zuko so they could back to the cemetery, quickly.

But upon exiting the tavern, and no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she saw one of the last things she wanted to see: not all eight of the Spirits, not the General that was supposed to be Maia's father, but Zuko, staggering towards her clutching his side in pain. No Spirits were following him (that was a relief) but when she rushed outside to meet him, she realised that the Spirits had probably left him for dead when she caught sight of the large and probably deep gash on his side.

She gasped and slung his arm around her shoulder to help him keep his balance. "Zuko, what happened?" she asked.

He didn't answer her, all she felt was the sudden amount of weight laid upon her shoulders when Zuko lost consciousness.

**

* * *

Poor, poor, Zuzu. I was actually thinking of giving Katara another near-death-experience, but hey, why give it to her when I can give it to Zuko and end up with more Zutara fluff instead? **

**We're almost there, by the way. Only a few more chapters to go!**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	15. Katara's Anxiety

**Hey Guys! **

**Sorry for the wait, but see Term Break's over and now I'm back at school, and three days in and I have piece of embroidery I have to put into an art exhibition which means I have to get the embroidery in by Wednesday. That, plus revision for the Aussie Maths Exam, I'm not gonna have much time to update so don't expect any more updates for a while.**

**Well, here's your next chapter, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it.**

**

* * *

Katara's Anxiety**

Maia paced around the cave impatiently, taking no notice of the rain and thunder echoing off the stone walls. Her brow was scrunched in both anxiety and thought while she twiddled her thumbs as she did when she was nervous, because spirit or not, she was extremely worried of what would happen if her fa… no, not that, if the _General_ found her hiding out in the cave at the cemetery. Sighing in frustration, she hissed to herself, "What the heck is taking those two so long? It's not that _hard_ to find _one _scroll!" (Her conscience snorted—Itara _was _a fairly big town to visitors; she knew this first hand.)

She clicked her tongue and stopped pacing suddenly, sneaking a look at the eerie graveyard spread out before her. Her eyes strained to see past the heavy rain and then after a moment she caught sight of the silhouette of something… no, some _one _hurrying through the gravestones.

Maia squinted, trying her hardest to figure out who it was with one hand ready in case she had to raise a wall of fire if it was who she thought it was, but as the figure approached the cave, her eyes brightened slightly when she recognised who it was.

Cautiously, she stepped out of the cave and into the rain to greet the newcomer, and when she fully recognised him, she grinned. "Li?" she called over the noise of the rain.

"Lan, m'dear." Lan smiled back at her and waved as he came into range. "I's good t' see you, Maia, 'ave you been stuck 'ere all this time?"

Maia chuckled but shook her head. "Yeah, but now's not the time, Lan." She frowned and bit her lip again. "Did you run into Katara and Zuko on your way here?"

Lan stared at her. "They lef' 'ere?"

"They went to find Reef's scroll," said Maia, nodding. "I thought you knew that—"

"Li and I only jus' foun' ou' t'nigh'," interrupted Lan, his expression apologetic. "Li's still checkin' the village t' see if they're still there. Luckily enough, 'e's go' the scroll. 'Opefully 'e'll find them."

"But Lan," said Maia, wringing her hands nervously, "the General was trapped on the third floor of the inn! And those two have been ages! What if the Spirits… or Shan attacked them?"

Lan shook his head and placed a gnarled hand on her shoulder. "Listen, Maia m'dear, they'll be fine. Li's still in the village a' the momen', 'e'll find em if anythin's wrong. Both Katara an' Zuko are very skilled benders, surely you'd know tha'. Now come, we'll wai' in the cave."

* * *

The rain hadn't lessened in any way since Katara, Aang and Sokka had arrived at the inn—if anything, it hadn't lessened, it had become worse.

Katara squinted through the heavy rain, her knees buckling slightly as she staggered back towards the inn under Zuko's weight. She grimaced and shifted her hold on his arm so that his weight was spread more evenly across her shoulders. It was slow work, really, and when she finally got there, she swung his arm back over her shoulder and laid him gently on the floor.

She didn't bother to dry herself or Zuko off but she flinched slightly when she caught sight of the side of his torso. The side of his shirt was drenched in blood and rain and without thinking she removed his robe and bit her lip when she saw his wound in full. It was deep, definitely, and if she couldn't get it to stop bleeding soon, Zuko would end up suffering from severe blood loss. The gash was on his right side, stretching from the side of his ribs, dangerously close to his lungs, to around his torso and stopping a little way to the right of his navel. His breathing, she noticed, had become shallow and uneven and his face, though he was unconscious, was contorted in pain.

Katara sighed heavily, and focussing on his wound (_His _wound _Katara_, her conscience hissed, _not his body, you're _healing _him_) she slipped off her water skin and removed the cap hastily, bending all of the water out of it but only ending up with a small stream of water—not nearly as much as when she had opened it last, and not even minutely enough to heal such a large and deep gash.

Katara bit the inside of her cheek in anxiety and irritation, checking her water skin for any signs of leakage, but finding none, she couldn't quite place how she had run out of water so quickly. She sighed heavily and scuttled to the open doorway, bending as much water as she could out of the rain. Then hurrying back to Zuko, she bent the collected liquid over his cut, cleaning it out quickly.

Zuko shivered subconsciously at the feel of the cool liquid and groaned inwardly. Katara bit her lip anxiously, and then muttered under her breath, "Hang on, Zuko, you'll be fine…"

Breathing in deeply and focussing her energy on healing the young man before her, she placed both her hands on his torso, knowing full well that this was a very… _risky_ situation, in more than just one way, yet she couldn't help but feel… she didn't know what she felt, it just felt as if there was nothing wrong with helping an enemy.

Aang and Sokka, she knew, were still in the cellar, probably with no idea that she'd come back to the inn, and _definitely _no idea that she'd come back with a severely injured Zuko. Were they to burst out of the cellar suddenly and they would think that Katara was fraternizing with the enemy!

She sighed again and no more than a few moments later, when the water began to drip from her hands, she removed her hands from his side and frowned when she found that Zuko's cut hadn't healed properly. Sure the cut had healed mostly, but around his ribs was still rather bruised, and she realised: _broken ribs_.

Katara scowled. She didn't know how to heal fractures—cuts, burns, abrasions, lesions and such maybe, but _fractures_? Yugoda never taught her to heal fractures! Maybe if she hadn't been off learning how to fight with the guys so often, she'd know, but now she was severely regretting _not _going to all of Yugoda's lessons.

She sighed heavily thankful for the first-aid she'd learnt when she was younger while living in the South Pole. At least even without waterbending, she knew how to treat the injured, but she hadn't dealt with fractures in a while. She ground her teeth and racked her brains, massaging her temples to help her think.

If she remembered correctly, the quickest way to fix up a fracture was to wrap it up tightly to keep it steady. With rib fractures, one would wrap the victim's chest tightly and make sure they don't make any sudden movements, so she knelt up straight for a moment and looked around for anything she might be able to use as a make-shift bandage of some sort.

She glanced uneasily at Zuko before reaching for his bloodied shirt draping it over his slightly-shivering form. Then she scuttled to the counter, heaved herself back onto her feet and climbed over it again. She knelt down and sat down on her heels, raiding the cupboards and drawers for anything to use as a bandage. Try as she might to deny it, she was… worried about him… _very _worried about him…

The trapdoor that lay a mere few millimetres away from her began to pound again, obviously another futile attempt from Aang and Sokka to get out, then a heavy sigh and then their voices.

"D'you think Katara might still be up there?" asked Aang's muffled voice.

Sokka paused for a second and then answered, "Doubt it, why do you think she left?"

"Who knows? She sounded like she was in a real hurry or something…"

"You don't think she left us here on purpose, do you?"

Katara froze and then after a moment turned and stared incredulously at the trapdoor—almost as if trying to see through it to glare at her brother. How could he suggest such a thing? She would never even _think _about doing something as such! Out of utter disbelief, she remained silent, temporarily forgetting about Zuko.

Obviously Aang was a little incredulous too. There was a small pause, and then, "That's a joke, isn't it?"

"She seemed like she was in a real rush earlier, it just… didn't seem _right _that she just left us here…"

"Sokka… she's your _sister_, why the heck would she do that? And she said she'd be back, remember?"

"Yeah, that's true… you don't think that Zuko took advantage of her or something, do you?"

There was a loud thump on the trapdoor which making Katara jump, feeling rather shocked. "Stop worrying so much, Sokka! In the past half hour you've done nothing but come up with a bunch of impossibilities! Half of them things that Katara would never do! She's fine and she hasn't turned against us!"

Zuko groaned softly but loud enough for Katara to hear and jolt back to her senses. She turned back to the cupboard she had been raiding and shook her head with a slight sigh while listening absently to her brother and Aang's conversations.

* * *

"I couldn' find 'em," said Li stepping into the cave. Maia and Lan looked up at him and smiled grimly. While waiting for Li, they had been playing a few rounds of 'Bridge It', a small game that Maia used to love playing with Reef when she was younger.

She taught Lan and Li how to play a little while after she came to Itara. The board that it was supposed to be played on had a series of dots and crosses. The two players would take turns connecting their appropriate symbol (dots or crosses) and try to create a continuous line (either vertically or horizontally) across the board while trying to prevent the other from doing so at the same time. Maia and Lan had been playing it on the earthy ground sharing small conversations with each other while they waited for Li, and now that he had arrived, Maia stood up from their game and approached him with a warm but grim smile.

Lan looked up at them and quickly said to Maia, "I'm afraid you jus' los', Maia dear, you lef' the board."

Maia scowled at him. "That doesn't count, Lan."

"Actually, i' does," interrupted Li. "Rules are rules, m'dear."

Maia scowled at him too. "This is no fair! You two are teaming up on me!"

Li chuckled. "Yes, we are, jus' like we used to, bu' tha's no' the bigges' of our worries now, is i'?"

The girl sighed. "No, it's not. You couldn't find them?"

Li shook his head. "I checked ev'rywhere. The Spiri's are patrollin' the stree's now and the General's wanderin' aroun' the village—probably lookin' fer you, Maia."

Maia began to fiddle with her fingers behind her back guiltily at the mention of the General, but she shook her head and looked back to Li. "Did you check the inn? That's where I told them to look; I told them it was in the cellar…"

Li shook his head. "The cellar's stuck—Aang an' Sokka are—"

"Who?"

"Aang an' Sokka: the Avatar an' Katara's brother. Any'ow, they're stuck down 'er and they prob'ly won' be able to ge' ou' until dawn," said Li. "I didn' check i' again though, I'll go back an' check, shall I?"

"Please?" asked Maia.

"No problem," said Li. "I'll be back in a minu'e, meanwhile, continue wit' yer game—I expec' you to win this time Maia, even if Lan over there tries t' chea'."

"I beg your pardon?" snapped Lan. "I would never chea'!"

The other two ignored him.

"But shouldn't I be worrying about those two?" said Maia. "They've been gone a long time, and it's only four hours 'til dawn by the looks of things…"

"Relax, m'dear," said Li. "I'll find 'em, now go an' finish yer game." He steered her around to face Lan and pushed her down into a sitting position, then he mouthed at his twin: "Make sure she doesn't worry again."

Lan nodded and erased the lines in the dirt from their previous and looked her in the eye as Li exited the cave. "They're fine, Maia," he said in a fatherly manner. "Li will find 'em, now would you like to star' or should I?"

Maia looked away for a moment and decided that it had been long enough. "Lan… I' haven't been completely honest with everyone… I think its time I told you a little more of the truth…" she looked rather… _worried_.

Lan cocked his head to the side in confusion and curiosity. "Maia, there's no need t' worry. Wha'ever i' is, go a'ead an' say i'."

"Promise not to get mad?" asked Maia timidly.

Lan nodded and drew the first line on the ground to begin their game. "Promise."

Maia took a breath and drew the next line on the board before she began. "It's about the General…"

* * *

Katara's face brightened slightly when she found a roll of cloth under the counter behind a stack of dusty old glasses. Dirty as it was, Katara, being a waterbender, could fix that easily. Pushing the dirty glasses out of the way, she reached for the roll and stood up again and climbed over the counter to see to Zuko.

Her brother and Aang's conversation about her whereabouts had long since ended, and all the time, for reasons unknown even to herself, she remained silent. She supposed that she didn't want to reveal that she had come back because then Aang and Sokka would ask her questions she didn't have time for—it was bad enough that Zuko was severely injured when they didn't have much time in the first place, and that would mean that they couldn't go back to the cemetery until Zuko had regained consciousness; that alone would consume time that they didn't have.

She crawled over to him and slung his left arm over her shoulder again, propping him up carefully and as gently as she could, she began to drag him towards the counter, muttering into his ear (she hoped he wouldn't remember when he woke up), "Come on, Zuko, I know this'll hurt but this is the only way I can get your rib fixed up… come on…"

She saw him flinch in his sleep as she continued to drag him gently across the floor, and finally when she got herself and Zuko to the front of the counter, she leant him against it and took his arm from her shoulder and lay it gently on the floor. She took a moment to stare at him and then shook her head and bent some more water out of the rain.

Bending it quickly through the cloth to clean it and then bending the excess water out of it to dry it off, Katara sighed quickly and began to wrap it tightly around Zuko's chest.

He groaned, and Katara looked into his face and saw him flinch a little as she wrapped the bandage around his ribs. "Sorry, Zuko, I know this hurts…"

She sat back a moment later and shrugged grimly at her handiwork, and then slid into the spot next to him and tucked her knees up to her chest and waited. For Zuko to wake up or for some one to find them or for when Aang and Sokka managed to burst out of the cellar—whichever one came first, and then no more than a few moments later, the silhouette of someone walked past the open doorway she hadn't bothered to close in her rush to help Zuko.

Katara frowned and crawled forward slowly and then cautiously she got to her feet, her hands ready in case she needed to bend when the figure doubled back suddenly. Katara actually screamed a little in shock.

"Katara, m'dear, relax, i's only me! Maia had a feeling you two'd still be in 'ere lookin' fer Reef's scroll."

Katara clutched her chest in fright, and breathing heavily, she asked, "Which one are you? Lan or Li?"

"Li, m'dear," said Li with a small smile. "Wha' 'appened? Zuko look 'urt."

Katara nodded gloomily. "I dunno what happened," she said honestly. "He told me to go and find Reef's scroll and that he'd meet me outside the inn. Aang and Sokka told me that you guys had it so I went outside to find Zuko and he had this massive gash on his side. I've healed it up but he still has a broken rib or two… and he's still kinda out of it…"

"Ow… what happened…?"

Li smirked. "E's no' anymore."

Katara spun around and felt a grin making its way to her face. "Zuko! Thank the gods you're alright!"

**

* * *

He lives! Meh, how was it? Good? Bad?**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	16. Pendant and Parchment

**Helloeth my good friendseths!**

**I speaketh Ye Olde Languageth! Meh, just kidding, I've been talking like that every Social Studies lesson this week because we're doing 'The Middle Ages', I just felt like sharing the spirit. I apologise for the wait, but I gave you a valid reason last chapter didn't I? Sorry again, anyway.**

**Enjoyeth!**

**Disclaimer: No, dangit! I do _not _own Avatar!**

**

* * *

Pendant and Parchment **

Zuko groaned inwardly and tried to open his eyes, but shut them tightly again as a stabbing pain shot through his right side. "Ow… what happened…?"

"Zuko! Thank the gods you're alright!"

Zuko squinted up at the speaker, rubbing the back of his neck and tilting his head exhaustedly from side to side to get rid of a stiff neck, but the next thing he knew, a blue-clad blur had flung herself upon him, making the pain in his side stab at him even more.

He cringed. "Argh! Katara! What the - ?"

He felt the arms around his neck loosen slightly and then suddenly, they released him, accidentally shoving him too roughly away from them.

"Sorry…" he heard her say. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he muttered, finally getting his eyes to open properly. Glancing around blearily, he saw Katara, still slightly wet – hair lying flat and clothes clinging slightly to her frame, but kneeling beside him, a small smile upon her face. Obviously she hadn't bothered to dry off upon re-entering the inn. One of the innkeepers (he wasn't sure which) standing at the doorway, and a second or two later he realised where he was – back at the inn. "What happened?" he asked again.

Katara grinned at him in relief and shrugged. "I dunno, you were attacked by the Spirits, I think, and by the looks of your side, I think you've broken a rib or two. I fixed it up as best as I could, but I kinda can't heal fractures…"

Zuko nodded at her, acknowledging her help and then slowly tried to get himself back onto his feet. The pain in his side didn't lessen as he did so, but he bit his lip to stop himself from flinching… it didn't really work.

Katara, however, for reasons unknown to him, stood up with him making sure he kept his balance, and once sure that he was fine on his feet, she crouched down, reached for his still-wet shirt and sprang back up again, holding his shirt out for him.

He stared at her for second, and then at the damp and bloodied shirt, and then back at her again.

Katara rolled her eyes at him. "I would've dried it, cleaned it and sewn it back together for you, but I don't have anything to do that with," she snapped, catching the almost ungrateful look on his face. "Now put it on, it's freezing, and with your side like that, I suggest you stay warm."

Scowling, Zuko snatched the shirt from out of her hand and put it on hurriedly, forgetting about his ribs but was quickly reminded of them when another twinge of pain stabbed through his side.

Katara saw him wince and sighed. "I'll do it," she said briskly, waving his arms out of the way. "You'll hurt yourself even more if you do."

"Katara, stop," he hissed, "I'm fine."

"That's what everyone says," she muttered exasperatedly. "Quit being so stubborn, Zuko, and no sudden movements until your ribs are healed up."

Zuko rolled his eyes as she began to do up his shirt. "You sound like my mother, dammit," he hissed back at her, and then looking over her messy, undone hair, he turned to the innkeeper.

"Lan –"

"Li," interrupted Li, smirking slightly at him as Katara continued to do up his shirt. "An' yes, I do 'ave the scroll, 'ere i' is." He held the tattered roll of parchment out for Zuko to see, and as Katara finished doing up his shirt, he (Zuko) stepped forward and took the scroll from the old man.

He looked from the old parchment to Li and then asked slowly as his memory began to clear up again, "Wait, Li, hang on… I thought you were spirits, how come you can touch solid objects but we can't touch you?"

Li shrugged. "Same way the wind works, I guess – you can' touch the wind, bu' the wind can carry objec's ligh' enough fer i' t' carry." He sighed quickly and began to rub his hands together in slight anticipation. "Now," he said, grinning at them, "I think we ough' t' ge' back t' the cemetery – Maia an' Lan're already there, and Maia began t' ge' farily worried abou' the both o' yous since you'd been gone a long time –"

"A long time?" interrupted Katara, scoffing slightly as she snatched the scroll out of Zuko's hands to have a look through it. "It's only slightly over half an hour; we haven't been gone _that_ long…"

"Actually, i's bin abou' an hour an' a 'alf."

Katara looked up at him suddenly and stared. "An hour and a half? Li, what the hell –"

Li shrugged once again. "Time flies when yer 'avin' fun, I s'pose." He smirked at her slightly and then added, "C'mon now, le's go – the Spirits plus Shan are still ou' there, remember, stay quie', alrigh'?"

"Wait a minute, what about Aang and Sokka?"

"I'm afraid they won' be able t' ge' ou' of tha' cellar 'til dawn, m'dear," replied Li grimly. "They'll 'ave t' wai' – they are safe down 'ere, I assure you, bu' they won' be able t' ge' ou' 'til mornin', okay?"

Katara bit her lip uneasily and looked behind her back at the trapdoor behind the counter but sighed. "Alright," she said after a moment's hesitation. Sokka's remark about her 'ditching' him and Aang earlier had made her feel a tiny bit guilty about leaving them before. There she was a few minutes ago, healing the enemy instead of helping her brother and the Avatar escape – she could almost see the situation that would fold out in front of her had her brother and Aang burst out of the cellar while she was helping Zuko.

She shook her head suddenly and followed Zuko and Li who were already on their way out of the inn. "Hey – wait!"

"You're too slow for your own good, Katara, move it," barked Zuko from the doorway. His hand, Katara noticed, didn't move from the side of his chest as he made his way out of the inn.

"Shut up, Zuko."

"You shut up!"

"The both o' yous shu' up," snapped Li, spinning around to face them suddenly. "Honestly, the way yous two argue, Shan would be able t' find us in no time a' all! Gees… bloody immature kids…"

"HEY!"

Itara, silent as it was despite the sounds of the horrible weather, seemed even more silent as Katara and Zuko's protest echoed through the empty streets. Upon realising how loud she had just yelled, Katara clapped a hand to her mouth fearfully and the two of them plus Li strained their ears for any sound that might give away a Spirit or two that had heard them and began making their way towards them.

For a full three seconds they stood in the same spot, listening intently to the sounds around them and then, they heard them; several sets of hurried footsteps making their way towards in them.

"Excellen' job, yous two," said Li sarcastically, glaring at the both of them, "with one word from each o' you, you 'ave both managed t' 'elp the Spiri's find us; I applaud you both, now however, I sugges' tha' you run." He pointed to his left and said, "There's shor' cu' t' the cemetery tha' way, turn lef' when you ge' t' the end of the stree' and then jump the fence. Keep runnin' 'til you ge' t' the cave… you know which cave, righ'?"

The two nodded.

"Good, now go."

"What about you?" asked Katara.

"I'm old and I'm dead, Katara, m'dear, an' the inn's righ' there. There's nothin' they can do t' me if I'm inside the inn 'cuz they'll think I'm jus' another random villager trapped inside me own buildin'. However they can do wha'ever they wish to _you _if they catch yous, wherever you are. Now run. I'll mee' yous wit' Maia and Lan at the cave, alrigh'?"

Katara nodded and felt Zuko seize her wrist once again and began to run in the direction Li had been pointing in. His other arm was still clutching his side and every now and then, he winced in pain but he continued to drag her along nevertheless.

Looking back over her shoulder, she saw that Li had disappeared and that the inn door was shut again just as one of the Spirits rounded the corner at the other end of the street.

"Shoot!" she hissed under her breath as she and Zuko turned the corner. "Zuko, they're gaining on us! Can't you run any faster?"

"Not while I'm dragging you along behind me," snapped Zuko.

"Let go of me, then!"

Zuko obliged and hurried ahead, Katara trailing not too far behind him and it was only a few seconds later that they found themselves running along the side of a crooked wooden fence. Beyond it was a small hill, and beyond that, they supposed, was the Itara Cemetery.

The two teenagers exchanged quick glances. The spaces between the old pieces of wood were too small to get through and the fence itself was too high to just hop over. A second of thought passed between the two and then finally, Zuko cupped his hands and held them out for Katara to get a leg up.

Katara didn't need to be told what to do next. Hurriedly, she placed one hand on Zuko's shoulder and the other in between two rotting planks of wood and quickly stepped onto Zuko's hands and three seconds later, she was already over the fence.

Zuko climbed over after her, wincing the slightest bit as he lay weight on his right arm and just as an arrow whizzed past Katara's shoulder, missing by only a few inches, Zuko fell with an "Ouch!" on his right side.

He didn't move from the wet and muddy ground for a few seconds, breathing heavily as he tried to ignore the pain stabbing at him from his ribs. He felt Katara kneel down next to him and place a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Zuko, c'mon!" she hissed. "We have to go, the Spirits are coming!"

Zuko ground his teeth and snarled in pain, his eyes shut tightly, as another three arrows zipped over Katara's head, embedding themselves into the muddy ground of the hill behind her.

"I know your ribs hurt Zuko, but we have to go or it won't just be them!" snapped Katara.

Zuko's eyes snapped open and with seemingly unneeded effort, he managed to get himself to sit up, and then through gritted teeth, he told her, "It's not just my ribs anymore!"

"What?"

"I can't get up."

"What do you mean you can't get up?" Several more arrows zipped over their heads, and out of slight irritation, Katara raised a thick wall of ice from the flooding water on the ground. Several resounding cracks followed the sudden raising of the icy wall telling Katara that the Spirits had no intention of letting a small wall of frozen water get in their way. Katara, however, ignored them and turned to Zuko. "What do you mean?" she repeated.

Zuko pulled his left leg out from underneath him and Katara heard herself gasp when she saw why he couldn't get up.

One of the arrows that had been fired at them had stabbed into the back of his leg, and by the looks of things, it was bleeding heavily.

"Oh gods, Zuko…" She sighed grimly and looked him in the eye. "Alright, listen, I'm going to need to pull it out – it'll hurt, a lot, but if we keep it in there it'll end up infected. It needs to come out quickly before the rest of the Spirits arrive to try and kill us, so don't argue with me, got it?" She paused and then added, "I'm not going to have time to heal it either, so you'll have to deal with it until I get time to."

Zuko clenched his jaw and shut his eyes tight but nodded, bracing himself for the pain that would follow, and sure enough, as the fifth crack resounded from the ice in front of the fence, and a sudden searing pain ran up and down his leg. His leg felt like it had a red hot metal rod pressed against it and moving his leg felt like he was going to snap his calf muscle. In absolute, almost blinding pain, Zuko grunted loudly as Katara tugged at the arrow.

Next thing he knew, Katara had slung his arm over her shoulder again and with a huge effort, managed to get herself and him back onto their feet. "Are you okay?"

Zuko nodded weakly, relaxing a tiny bit as Katara helped him limp up the hill. "Fine," he croaked. "Why are you acting like you're genuinely concerned?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "I'm a healer, you idiot, I _am _genuinely concerned."

"I'm your enemy!" said Zuko exasperatedly.

"You're still human."

Zuko opened his mouth and closed it twice having thought of nothing to say back to her, and eventually, they reached the top of the hill. Through the haze of the heavy rain, they could make out the outline of the cave in the distance and two figures making their way towards them.

Squinting at them through the rain, Katara shifted her hold on Zuko and said quietly, "I think that's Maia!"

Zuko didn't seem to be wondering whether it _was_ Maia or not. Instead, he said hoarsely, "Katara, we have to hurry."

"What?"

Zuko lifted his other arm and pointed back at the fence and Katara heard herself gasp when she realised why Zuko had told her they needed to hurry. The two red Spirits, a blue one and a green one had leapt over the fence and were making their way towards them, slowly as though savouring the moment in which they had finally reached their targets.

Katara bit her lip and began to heave Zuko down the other side of the hill as quickly as she could. "Help me Zuko; I can't go that quickly if you're not helping me drag you along…"

"Hey, I can barely walk and I have probably a couple of broken ribs, you think that maybe you could cut me some slack?"

"Are you asking for pity now?" snapped Katara.

"No!"

"Fightin' again, yous two?" asked a voice.

The two teenagers looked up and found themselves grinning at who they had met. Maia and Lan (or Li, whichever) were standing in front of them, greeting them both a small smile.

"Maia! Lan! Thank the gods!"

"What happened?" asked Maia, "You two were ages! And you look hurt Zuko…"

"We'll explain later," snapped Katara. "Meanwhile, Spirits. That way." She jerked her head behind her towards the top of the hill on which the Spirits were now standing looking down at them.

"Not again," muttered Maia. "Lan, take these two where the soldiers took me and tell them what to do. I'll be there in a second."

Lan nodded and turned around, gesturing for the two to follow him. "C'mon now, the both o' you, we 'ave t' 'urry."

Katara and Zuko nodded and staggered after him, following him to just outside the cave in which Maia had hidden in the past fifty years. Upon reaching their destination, Lan asked them, "'Ave you go' the scroll?"

Katara nodded, helping Zuko to the entrance of the cave so he could lean on the wall instead of her.

"And the pendan'?"

Katara nodded again fishing the pendant out of her pocket.

"Alrigh'y, then, 'ere's wha' you need t' do," said Lan. "Katara, m'dear, I need you dig small 'ole righ' 'ere." He pointed at a small patch of ground at his feet, and wasting no time, Katara scuttled towards him and began to dig. "Zuko," continued Lan, "tear the incantation ou' of the scroll and limp over 'ere and draw a circle o' flames aroun' yerself an' Katara."

"It's pouring with rain!" snapped Zuko.

"Yes, bu' I'm sure yer a powerful bender, ye'll be able t' so i'," said Lan.

Zuko scowled but limped forward anyway and began to do as he was told just as Maia and Li appeared rushing fearfully towards them.

"Katara! Zuko! Hurry up! Shan's coming!" yelled Maia, obviously panicking at the fact that her father was coming.

"Oh dear…" said Lan quietly. "'urry Zuko, finish tha' circle quickly. Katara once 'e's done bury the pendan' an' read ou' the incantation while Zuko's burnin' i', quickly."

Katara nodded and dropped the pendant into the whole as Zuko set the incantation alight. She shoved the small pile of dirt over the hole with her foot and snatched the burning parchment out of Zuko's hands and began to read out:

"_Those who lived here  
Will forever stay  
To haunt this village night and day._

_Those who killed here  
are forever bound  
By Spirits of the Earthen Ground– _"

She cut herself off as the heat began lick at her fingers.

"Katara, hurry up!" called Maia. Shan's silhouette was now visible and coming slowly towards Maia, dragging his clanking chains behind him loudly.

"Bear with me! It's burning my fingers!"

"Katara!" snapped Maia.

Katara grimaced but the next thing she knew, the flames were close enough to lick her fingers. What shocked her, however, was that Zuko suddenly scuttled behind her, placed his arms around her and his hands had taken the burning parchment out of her hands.

"Keep reading," he hissed. "Hurry."

Katara nodded and continued.

" _- with this pendant  
This spell I cast,  
This Curse shall stay 'til it's buried at last_

_And burning parchment  
Is the key  
To break the chains and set us free."_

She finished the incantation, Zuko dropped parchment and there was a flash of light and Maia and Li were no longer running towards them and Lan no longer beside their ring of fire. Instead, from all over the village, several bluish ribbons of light were rising to a small warped hole in the sky.

The rain had stopped, and all of a sudden it didn't seem so cold and dark anymore, the Spirits were no longer masked and Itara no longer seemed empty.

Three of the ribbons of light however, did not meander to their correct destination immediately. They surrounded the two stunned teenagers and Lan, Li and Maia's familiar voices echoed through their heads.

"_Thank you, Katara, m'dear… you too, Zuko…"_

"_Thanks, yous two…"_

"_Later guys… thanks a bunch…"_

And as an extra thought, Maia's voice echoed through Zuko's head with one last message: _"Look after her Zuko, or you'll end up hearing from me again…"_

Zuko stared around frantically in confusion and then yelled out at any one of the glowing ribbons, "Maia, what the hell? Who's '_her_'!"

All Zuko got in reply was a glance of confusion from Katara, and a distant, cheeky giggle.

**

* * *

How was it guys? We got one more coming so you only have to put up with this fic for one more chapter and then I'll repost 'Fermata'. **

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	17. Itara Renewed

**Hey Guys! **

**New record yet again! Thirteen pages! But anyway, here you go, the last chapter of 'Night Hunt' and now you just have to wait a couple of days or so until I can find the disk on which I kept 'Procerus Fermata'. Oh yeah, and Zuko might be a tad bit out of character, but he's tired and sleepy and not thinking straight.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I haven't even _seen_ the latest episode of Avatar yet, how can I own it?**

**

* * *

Itara Renewed **

The rain had stopped and Itara's unwelcoming and eerie countenance had long since dissipated as Katara and Zuko (leaning heavily on Katara as he could still barely walk) trudged slowly through the muddy grounds of the Itara Cemetery.

"Is your leg feeling any better?"

"No."

They spoke only in hushed voices, but even then, their voices echoed softly through the dark cemetery, breaking the gentle silence that hung on the crisp cold air like the swift crack of a whip. Their footsteps could easily be heard sloshing through the mud and puddles and now that the storm had disappeared, it seemed unusually quiet for a village that had been, until half an hour before, inhabited by its entire population in spirit form.

"Ouch!"

"Oh! Sorry! Was that your rib?"

"… Ow…"

"Sorry…"

Katara shifted her hold on Zuko's arm so she wouldn't accidentally hit his rib again. She didn't bother to heal the gash on his leg just yet just in case the arrow went through the bone as well – Zuko had told her that from the wound down felt extremely numb and that he couldn't move his foot, and they both knew all too well that this could be more than just a flesh wound.

"It's not really your best night tonight, is it?"

"Obviously…"

There was silence for another moment or two, and then Katara spoke up again when they approached the hill which Li had told them to use as a short-cut.

"Careful," she muttered, as the almost-flooded road came into view from the top of the hill. With a quick sigh, they made their way down slowly, slipping every now and then because of the excess of mud, and with one last slip and small yelp, they managed their way to the crooked wooden fence.

"Are you gonna be able to get climb over it?" asked Katara, looking up at him.

Zuko managed a small shrug and said, "I'll manage." He slung his arm back over Katara's head and grabbed the wooden fence for support. He thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to go about getting over the fencing without hurting himself even more as Katara managed to get herself over the fence rather clumsily, landing painfully on her backside on the muddy ground.

Zuko couldn't help but scoff at her, and with a quick heave, he got himself up and over, but lost his grip on the wet wood landing rather clumsily himself, next to her.

Katara giggled and smirked at him as she scrambled back onto her feet and held a hand out for Zuko.

He took it with a slight glare and muttered a quick "Thanks," under his breath.

She slung his arm over her shoulders again and began to make their way slowly back to the inn, mud splashing onto their already muddy shoes, and about ten minutes later, they found themselves back outside the seemingly deserted inn.

Zuko pushed the door open with his other arm and he and Katara staggered into the inn, a trail of mud and water dripping after him onto the dusty wooden floor. Once they reached the counter, Zuko removed his arm from Katara's shoulders and slid down into a sitting position, his back leaning against the dark wood.

"Stay here," said Katara, looking down at him.

"Do I have any other choice?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "You have a broken rib or two and your leg had an arrow in it no less than say forty-five minutes ago – don't make me want to kick you."

Zuko scoffed and put on a high voice as if to imitate the girl standing before him. "_You're still human_."

She glared at him, her gaze sharp and icy as if she couldn't emphasise enough how serious she was.

He smirked and held his hands up defensively. "Alright, I'll stop… sheesh…"

Katara glared at him for a moment longer before stepping outside to get some water – her water skin was still empty – and no more than a few seconds later, she returned and knelt down in front of Zuko, a small globe of water twice the size of one's fist floating above her hands.

"Lemme see your leg."

Zuko didn't seem to be listening. "Huh?"

"Your leg, Zuko," snapped Katara, placing a hand her hip impatiently. "Lemme see it so I can heal it."

"Oh, right." Zuko lifted his left leg, a pained expression making its way to his face as he did so. He lifted the loose hem of the left leg of his pants carefully, revealing his bloodied leg and the deep gash in the back of his leg that had rendered him unable to walk. He flinched when he saw it.

Blood had trickled all the way down his leg and the actual wound looked as if someone had twisted it out of his leg.

Katara saw his reaction and scoffed. "You should've seen how bad your side looked before I found out your ribs were broken." She sighed softly. "Hold the pant leg up."

Zuko obliged and watched as Katara started forwards and tilted her head to the side so she could see the gash better. A second later, he jumped when he felt the sudden coolness of liquid touch the skin on the back of his leg. He watched almost in fascination as the girl bent the water to clean the blood off his leg and then begin to heal the wound on his leg.

It only took a moment or two, and then suddenly Zuko felt the pain going… going… and then it was gone. Zuko leant forward a little and inspected the spot where the wound used to be. He could feel his toes again and moving his leg, he almost grinned when he felt no pain.

"Hey look at that, the bone's not broken."

He looked up at her. "Thanks," he said, actually grateful for the peasant's… no, Katara's healing prowess.

"You're welcome," she said wearily, sliding across the floor to sit next to him. There was an unusually comfortable pause between the two, and then Katara spoke up again.

"You know, this is the strangest situation we've ever been involved in."

Zuko turned his head and stared at her, drawing his knees up and resting his elbows upon them. "We just released an entire village of souls, how can it _not _be strange?"

Katara shook her head. "Well _duh_, but not just that – I mean, at the moment. For once we're actually _not _trying to kill each other."

"You were tying to kill me?"

"Not literally!"

Zuko smirked at her. "You _weren't _trying to kill me and my uncle? That's news."

Katara pulled her knees up to her chest, placed her arms over them and rested her chin on her hands, tilting her head slightly to look at him. "No, it's just that… you know, we're working _together_ and not against each other… it's just… weird… maybe the comet's due to arrive early or something 'cuz this really doesn't seem right…"

Zuko scoffed followed another pause. Outside they could hear the soft sounds of small birds looking for their breakfasts in the early morning, and then Zuko spoke again.

"Well… if it's any consolation to you, my uncle and I weren't trying to kill you, your brother or the Avatar at any stage at all."

Katara giggled slightly and sighed. There was yet another moment of silence and then she stood up suddenly, dusting her skirt slightly as if trying to rid it of invisible dust.

"Where're you going?" asked Zuko, leaning forward a little watching her climb onto the counter to reach the large hole where the trapdoor and staircase leading upstairs used to be.

"I left stuff in my room earlier," she said trying to figure out how to get onto the second floor without hurting herself on a random piece of sharp wood jutting out from the second floor. "I'll be back in a second."

"D'you want a leg up?" asked Zuko, scrambling to his feet ignoring the pain that stabbed him in the side as he stood up.

Katara stared at him and raised an eyebrow. "Uhhh…. Sure, if you don't mind… you're not going to drop me are you?"

"And risk your brother trying to break my neck? I'd rather not." Zuko scrambled onto the counter after her and cupped his hands for her. She placed her foot in his hands and as she pushed herself up and onto the second floor, Zuko pushed her up as well so that she wouldn't lose her balance and fall.

Once up, she looked over the gap and back down at Zuko. "Is there anything in your room you want me to get?"

Zuko nodded. "There's a bag of coins in the bedside drawer, if you can get those for me, that'd be great."

"Which one's your room?"

"The one on the same side as your brother's and the Avatar's but the…" he paused, trying to remember which door it was, and then said, "It's the fourth door down from your end of the hallway."

"Right, I'll just be a second."

She stood up again and walked slowly down to the end of the hallway passing the large hall window she and Zuko had jumped out of earlier that night. She stopped by it and looked out at the silent, yet not so eerie village and smiled softly as the truth of what she and Zuko had accomplished finally sunk in.

The village in front of her, the one that was spread out beyond the window, its entire population had been wandering its streets for half a century because of a curse placed upon it by one of its villagers after the population was massacred, and now, the souls of those trapped there were _free_, able to cross over into the Spirit World because of them She felt… more than just proud to say the least.

She smiled again and continued to walk down the hall and back to the room in which she was supposed to stay in. The door opened with a loud creak as it had done when she Aang, and Sokka had first arrived, and everything had remained where she had left it last, yet there was no sign of the fight that had taken place in that room when the Spirits had first attacked her.

Katara sighed and reached for the crinkled blankets, folding them up in her arms to take down to the tavern in case she could get a little more shut-eye, and then she picked her hair-tie off of the bedside table, took one last glance around the room and smiled once more.

She turned on her heel and left without taking anything else and made her way carefully around the hole in the floor and down to the fourth door in the hallway that marked the entrance into Zuko's room.

Twisting the rusted doorknob, the door opened with another creak, peering in, she found that the room was unusually neat despite the white blanket lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. She scanned the room quickly and frowned when she caught sight of a neatly folded piece of parchment lying on the bedside table.

Katara ambled forward, eyeing the parchment suspiciously, then picking it up, she examined it quickly but didn't open it in case it was left there for Zuko. She shrugged and pocketed it, then moved to open the drawer.

It was empty except for a small leather bag that had been roughly thrown into one corner of the drawer. She shrugged, picking it up ad noting dimly how it felt unusually light for a bag of coins that belonged to Zuko.

She walked slowly back out of the room and then collapsed onto her knees before the hole in the floor. She dropped down onto the counter and then jumped back onto the floor, sitting herself down beside Zuko.

"Here you go," she said, producing the bag of coins and dropping it into Zuko's hands.

"Thanks," muttered Zuko. "What's with the blanket?"

Katara shrugged, placing the blanket onto her lap and reaching behind her head to braid her damp hair. "Just brought it down in case I could get some more sleep, you know?"

"Why didn't you bring _me _one?"

Katara blinked and stared at him.

"The temperature hasn't risen any higher; it's still freezing here."

"… You didn't ask?" She grinned sheepishly as she finished braiding her hair. Then she looked down at the blanket and then to Zuko and back again and said, "You can have it if you want – I only brought it down to make it considerably more comfortable if I did manage to get some more sleep. I don't need it."

Zuko shook his head smirking and waved her off. "I was kidding. You can have it, I'm a firebender remember?"

"… Are you sure?"

"Yeah, take it, I'm fine."

Katara bit her lip feeling a small amount of pity well up for Zuko, and after a second of thought, she spoke up. "…We… I can't believe I'm about to say this…" she gulped, "We could always share it?"

Zuko stared at her. "You did _not _just say that."

She grinned sheepishly. "I really hope I didn't."

The boy gulped. "I don't see anything wrong with doing so… scoot closer."

Katara eyed him uneasily but pushed herself closer to him anyway. Close enough for the two of them to share the blanket but not so they were touching. Zuko took the white sheet from her draped it over the two of them and his action was followed by a minute of awkward silence.

And then –

"Oh yeah, I found this on the bedside drawer, is it yours?"

Katara reached into her pocket and produced the piece of folded parchment she'd found in Zuko's room and held up for him to see.

Zuko eyed it curiously and took it from her, opening it, skim reading it, and then a cross between a smile and a smirk made its way to his face.

"It's from Lan, Li and Maia," he said, not looking up.

Katara frowned. "But didn't they…?"

"Yeah, they did," said Zuko. He glanced at her, his amber eyes meeting her blue ones for a second or two then looked back down at the piece of parchment in his hand. He paused for a moment and then read aloud:

"_Katara and Zuko,_

_We're sorry for pulling you both into this little mishap, but we're thankful that you helped us all out anyway. Fifty years of wandering the same village night and day, unable to cross over into the Spirit World, and now thanks to you two, we're all free._

_Katara, if you didn't figure out the piece of advice Lan gave you earlier tonight – "_

The words of Lan's cryptic advice zoomed back into Katara's head: '_I' ne'er rains bu' i' pours,' _and she looked up suddenly, eager to find out what he meant by it.

"_It means that you don't need your water skin to be able to get the water that you need, and it doesn't need to be pouring with rain at night on a full moon for you to be an even more powerful bender than you are now. Water is everywhere, Katara, in the air, in plants, in soil and even in the bodies of living, breathing people. All you need to know is how to harness it and use it to your advantage._

_Zuko, I must congratulate you on your ability to protect that girl by means of intimidation. You did an extremely good job of it – she is indeed rather careless, clumsy and a bit foolish at times – "_

Zuko scoffed as he read this part out. Katara harrumphed irritably.

"_But without the both of you, we'd still be stuck in this miserable, sleepy ghost town._

_Maia told us about her family only earlier tonight, and we can only hope that neither of you turn into people as bad or nor do you meet anyone as vile. The three of us wish you all the best and that you are safe in the rest of your travels, and once again, thank you. We really don't have any way to repay you, but give you all our thanks._

_All the best,_

_Lan, Li, and Maia."_

_

* * *

_

P.S. Zuko, as for who 'her' is, you'll have to wait and find out. Sorry, but I'm sure you'll kick yourself when you figure out who she is, and bear in mind that I (Maia), will_ find a way out of the Spirit World if you mistreat her after you figure who she is. Girls will stick together, Zuko, especially if we share certain similar traits._

Zuko kept the postscript to himself. As it was addressed mainly to him about Maia's last message to him, he felt no need to share it with the girl sitting next to him and sharing the same blanket.

"That's nice," he heard her say. "Glad they appreciate our help."

Zuko turned his head to look at her. "Who wouldn't appreciate someone's help?"

Katara scoffed. "_You_ wouldn't were this a normal situation."

"I resent that," snapped Zuko. "You are such an insolent peasant sometimes."

The girl smirked at him. "I thought I was always one."

It was Zuko who scoffed this time, but he changed the subject. "Shouldn't you be trying to help your brother and the Avatar out of the cellar?"

Katara groaned. "There's only, what? Say three more hours 'til dawn? Lan said that that trapdoor will open by dawn, I'm sure they'll survive until then." She yawned sleepily and leant her head back on the dark wood of the front of the counter. "And I'm tired anyway," she added, shutting her eyes for a moment.

"You'd rather sit here with your enemy because you're tired than help your brother and best friend?" asked Zuko raising an eyebrow.

Katara looked back at him and shrugged. "They're fine down there. Lan _did _say that they were perfectly safe down there and that the trapdoor would open at dawn. And besides, that means we'd have to leave before I can get at least a tiny bit more sleep."

"You're _that_ sleepy, huh?" said Zuko.

Katara nodded, yawning again.

"And you don't mind that you're sitting next to your enemy? For all you know, I could kidnap you and use you as bait before your friends get out of the cellar."

The girl shook her head. "You won't though. You had plenty of opportunities to drag me off tonight already but you still haven't done so, and you made a deal with Aang which means he would have made swear on your honour, and you'd _never _break a deal like that, would you?"

Zuko smirked. "You're right, I wouldn't," he said softly.

His last statement was followed by several moments of comfortable silence, and then he felt Katara's head on his shoulder suddenly. He jumped slightly and looked down at her to see that she had finally fallen asleep… and on his shoulder, no less.

He couldn't help but smile the tiniest bit as he watched her sleep so peacefully, her hair, now done in its usual braid hung limply over her shoulder and her lips forming a small smile as she slept.

Without thinking, he moved her head slightly so that his arm was free, and then placed it around her waist pulling her the slightest bit closer. Sure, she was normally his enemy, but the situation they had just been involved in was far from normal. And she was asleep anyway… nobody, including her, needed to know.

And it wasn't long after that that he rested his head against the top of hers and let himself drift off to sleep too.

* * *

BANG! 

"FINALLY! We're FREE!"

"Sokka, it's the literally the crack of dawn, could you maybe, you know, turn it down a little?"

"Aang, we just escaped from the bloody cellar that kept us trying to get out of it all night! Maybe you could be a little more enthusiastic!"

"I am enthusiastic! I'm sleepy too!"

Aang grumbled irritably when Sokka didn't listen to him, and exhausted as he was from his lack of his sleep, he had no intention of listening to whatever Sokka was going on about anyway. Instead, he plopped himself into the chair behind the counter, rest his hands on the table, and lay his head on his hands, closing his eyes in an attempt to get some sleep.

Sokka, however, felt wide awake and was almost _dancing _around the tavern in jubilantly in celebration of finally being able to get out of the cellar. But unfortunately, his jubilation was short lived when he caught sight of his sister.

He could've sworn he was dreaming when he saw his sister asleep on _Zuko's _chest in front of the counter. What's worse, Zuko had his arm protectively around her waist, and even worse than that, Katara had a small smile on her lips as she slept.

Sokka almost died in pure shock.

"KATARA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH _HIM_!"

Aang groaned sleepily from the counter. "Sokka, whatever she's done this time, leave her alone, we're all exhausted…"

Sokka didn't listen. "ZUKO IS OUR ENEMY! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Zuko stirred slightly but didn't seem to wake at Sokka's yells of infuriation.

Katara, however, lifted her head sleepily and stared blearily around the room. She caught sight of Sokka, the amount of fury on his face, and then groaned and pulled the white blanket she and Zuko were using over her head in irritation.

"Do you mind, Sokka?" she mumbled sleepily from under the blanket.

"YES!" roared the water tribe boy in absolute fury. "THAT'S _ZUKO_ YOU'RE SHARING A BLANKET WITH! DO YOU NOT CARE?"

No coherent reply was given to him, only a sleepy mumble from beneath the blanket.

"KATARA! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?"

"Not really," came the sleepy reply. "Go away, Sokka, let me sleep…"

Furious, Sokka ground his teeth and dumped himself into the nearest stool. As much as he wanted to drag his sister away from the bastard whose arms were wound protectively around her waist, he didn't want to end up dead because of an utterly irritated sister. Being her brother, he knew all too well what she was capable of doing when she was annoyed, and so, he fought his over-protective brotherly conscience and watched as his sister slept undeniably peacefully in the enemy's arms.

* * *

It was noon before any one of the three teenagers who were asleep woke up. 

Katara, who had found herself in Zuko's arms when she woke up, yelped and tried to scramble away from him immediately, but was prevented from doing so by a tangle of blankets.

"About time you woke up," grumbled Sokka.

Katara looked up at her brother grinned sheepishly at the furious look on his face. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, his eyes tired, but really, _furious _was an understatement.

"Uhh… good morning?" she said nervously, untangling herself from the blankets.

Sokka glared at her. "It's past midday," he said stiffly. "What the _hell _were you doing with Zuko?"

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Sleeping…"

Sokka said nothing.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Sokka, we were up all night fighting Spirits and freeing a hundred odd souls, give us a break…"

Still, Sokka said nothing.

Katara sighed heavily when she realised what her brother was thinking. "Sokka relax! Nothing happened! I haven't betrayed anyone nor did Zuko take advantage of me… just… _relax_, okay? And Zuko's not all that bad anyway."

"He's trying to kill us," snapped Sokka.

The girl shook her head. "No, he's not."

"You're defending him now?"

"Only because he's not actually _that _bad."

Sokka harrumphed. "We should go," he said, after a moment of silence. "We have to find Aang an Earthbending teacher."

"Shouldn't we wait for – "

"It's okay…" mumbled a sleepy voice from the counter. Aang had woken up while they were talking. "I'm up… did I miss anything?"

Katara scrambled to her knees and looked at him over the counter. "G'morning Aang."

"It's past midday!" snapped Sokka.

"Who cares?" retorted Katara.

Sokka snarled and stood up. "We should go," he said again.

Aang stared at him. "Already? Sokka, we just woke up!"

"Yeah well, Prince Scarface is here, we don't want him handing you over, do we," hissed Sokka at the young monk. With that, he turned on his heel and stomped angrily out of the inn.

Aang yawned, but stood up anyway. "Alright, I'm coming…"

Katara, however, did not move. "Wait – Sokka! What about Zuko?"

"Leave him, he'll be fine," came Sokka's slightly muffled reply.

Katara sighed. Why her brother was irritated was beyond her. She shrugged and knelt back down beside Zuko again and shook him awake. "Zuko, wake up," she whispered.

"Mm?" mumbled Zuko, opening his eyes and glancing around sleepily. "Oh," he said, catching sight of Katara, "It's you, good morning."

"Look, I have to go, Aang and Sokka are already on their way out of the village, but I didn't want to leave without saying thanks."

Zuko blinked. "…why?"

Katara shrugged. "You saved my life more than once last night, and it just didn't seem right to just leave you here… so… thanks."

"You're welcome, I guess," replied Zuko feeling rather bewildered. "See you at the next time I catch up to you then."

Katara frowned at him. "You're giving us a head start?"

Zuko shrugged. "Least I can do for you for helping me out with the rib… and the leg…"

Katara's frown turned into a grin. "Thanks. See you round, then."

"Hurry up, Katara!" snapped an angry voice outside.

The girl rolled her eyes in frustration. "I'm coming already!" she snapped. She turned back to Zuko and gave him a quick smile before leaning forward and kissing him lightly on the cheek. "Thanks again, Zuko," she said softly, standing up and turning to leave.

"Uh… no problem," said Zuko, touching his cheek lightly in utter bewilderment. "And Katara…"

Katara stopped and turned to face him.

He looked her in the eye and smirked slightly. "We never speak of this incident again. Any of it – anything that happened tonight and just now, stays between the two of us, okay?"

Katara grinned and nodded. "Okay." And with that, she exited the inn without another word.

Zuko stared after her and sighed, drawing his knees up and resting his elbows on them again to wait. It was a shame he was still against them, that everything that had happened would have to be swept under the rug and never referred to again. It was a shame that he wouldn't see Katara again in a while, but he smirked to himself after a moment; he'd always be able to find her again, and though the experience was never to be spoken of again, he was sure that he, and Katara, wouldn't forget what happened that night for a long time to come.

_Finé_

**

* * *

Well, there you have it. Another completed story off me. I hope you enjoyed it, guys, I worked hard and enjoyed writing it myself. Thanks loads for all your reviews and support throughout this story, and maybe, just maybe, I'll think up a sequel to this if you want it. **

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


End file.
